Solution Manual for Managing Human Resources 9th Canadian Edition By Monica Belcourt, Parbudyal Sing

NETA ENGAGEMENT Enriched Instructor’s Manual to accompany

NETA ENGAGEMENT: Enriched Instructor’s Manual to accompany Managing Human Resources, Ninth Canadian Edition

By Monica Belcourt, Parbudyal Singh, Scott A. Snell, Shad S. Morris, George W. Bohlander

CONTENTS Preface to the Enriched Instructor‘s Manual .................................................................................. iv About NETA ..................................................................................................................... iv The Enriched Instructor‘s Manual ..................................................................................... iv Additional Teaching Resources ......................................................................................... vi

PART 1: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN PERSPECTIVE Chapter 1: The World of Human Resources Management .............................................. 1-1 Chapter 2: Strategy and Human Resources Planning ...................................................... 2-1 PART 2: MEETING HUMAN RESOURCES REQUIREMENTS Chapter 3: Equity and Diversity in Human Resources Management .............................. 3-1 Chapter 4: Job Analysis and Work Design ...................................................................... 4-1 PART 3: DEVELOPING EFFECTIVENESS IN HUMAN RESOURCES Chapter 5: Expanding the Talent Pool: Recruitment and Careers ................................... 5-1 Chapter 6: Employee Selection........................................................................................ 6-1 Chapter 7: Training and Development............................................................................. 7-1 Chapter 8: Performance Management ............................................................................. 8-1 PART 4: IMPLEMENTING COMPENSATION AND SECURITY Chapter 9: Managing Compensation ............................................................................... 9-1 Chapter 10: Pay-for-Performance: Incentive Rewards .................................................. 10-1 Chapter 11: Employee Benefits ..................................................................................... 11-1 Chapter 12: Promoting Safety and Health ..................................................................... 12-1 PART 5: ENHANCING EMPLOYEE–MANAGEMENT RELATIONS Chapter 13: Employee Rights and Discipline ................................................................ 13-1 Chapter 14: The Dynamics of Labour Relations ........................................................... 14-1 ii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

PART 6: EXPANDING HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT HORIZONS Chapter 15: International Human Resources Management ........................................... 15-1

reface to the Enriched Instructor’s Manual

About NETA The Nelson Education Teaching Advantage (NETA) program delivers research-based instructor resources that promote student engagement and higher-order thinking to enable the success of Canadian students and educators. Visit Nelson Education‘s Inspired Instruction website at nelson.com/inspired to find out more about NETA.

The Enriched Instructor’s Manual This Enriched Instructor‘s Manual is organized according to the textbook chapters and addresses eight key educational concerns. It also includes elements of a traditional Instructor‘s Manual, including answers to problems, suggested answers to exercises and cases, etc.

The key educational concerns consist of the following: 1.

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Learning outcomes Key concepts Student motivation Engagement strategies Assessment tools Additional resources

Each of these educational concerns is described in more detail below.

1. Chapter Learning Outcomes  The Learning Outcomes reflect back to the textbook‘s Learning Outcomes.

2. Key Concepts: Why is this chapter important?

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This section identifies the key or threshold concepts covered in this chapter. Are there concepts that are key to new directions in the discipline? Concepts that help the student understand how the discipline works?

3. Student Motivation: Why should students care?  Here, the guide underlines relevance for the student‘s studies. Are there topics that relate to earlier chapters or are the underpinnings for a future concept? Is there relevance to everyday life or to a global issue?  This section will highlight the ways that the topic is, in itself, engaging for students.

4. Engagement Strategies: What can I do in class? 

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In each section, suggestions cover a broad range of in-class engagement activities: e.g., those that don‘t require any extra work on the part of the instructor, and those that require more instructor intervention; those that work best in small classes, and those that work with larger groups.

Activities will vary by chapter, but may include: o making explicit real-world links o online activities o role-playing o small or large group discussions o collaborative team projects

5. Assessment Tools: Finishing class  This section includes references to other Nelson resources (e.g., Test Banks, web quizzes, etc.) that help assess student learning.

6. Additional Teaching Resources  Resources include recommended reading, answers to end-of-chapter discussion questions, and notes for end-of-chapter case studies.

Additional Teaching Resources All NETA and other key instructor resources can be accessed at nelson.com/instructor, giving instructors the ultimate tools for customizing lectures and presentations. 

NETA Test Bank: This resource was prepared by one of the text authors, Parbudyal Singh at York University. It includes over 850 multiple-choice questions written according to NETA guidelines for effective construction and development of higher-order questions.

Also included are true/false and essay questions.

The NETA Test Bank is available in a new, cloud-based platform. Nelson Testing Powered by Cognero® is a secure online testing system that allows instructors to author, iv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

edit, and manage test bank content from anywhere Internet access is available. No special installations or downloads are needed, and the desktop-inspired interface, with its dropdown menus and familiar, intuitive tools, allows instructors to create and manage tests with ease. Multiple test versions can be created in an instant, and content can be imported or exported into other systems. Tests can be delivered from a learning management system, the classroom, or wherever an instructor chooses. Nelson Testing Powered by Cognero for Managing Human Resources, Ninth Canadian Edition, can also be accessed through nelson.com/instructor. 

NETA PowerPoint: Microsoft® PowerPoint® lecture slides for every chapter have been adapted by Ann Hrabok at NAIT. There are an average of 25 to 30 slides per chapter. The slides provide a basic outline of the chapter and contain key figures, tables, and photographs from Managing Human Resources. NETA principles of clear design and engaging content have been incorporated throughout, making it simple for instructors to customize the deck for their courses.

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Image Library: This resource consists of digital copies of figures, short tables, and photographs used in the book. Instructors may use these images to customize the NETA PowerPoint or create their own PowerPoint presentations.

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Videos: Instructors can enhance the classroom experience with the exciting and relevant videos provided directly to students through MindTap. These videos have been selected to accompany Managing Human Resources. CBC videos, organized by chapter, can be used in class for discussion and activity purposes.

Also available for instructors: MindTap: Offering personalized paths of dynamic assignments and applications, MindTap for Managing Human Resources is a digital learning solution that turns cookie-cutter into cutting-edge, apathy into engagement, and memorizers into higher-level thinkers. MindTap enables students to analyze and apply chapter concepts within relevant assignments, and allows instructors to measure skills and promote better outcomes with ease. A fully online learning solution, MindTap combines all student learning tools—readings, multimedia, activities, and assessments—into a single Learning Path that guides the student through the curriculum.

Instructors personalize the experience by customizing the presentation of these learning tools to their students, even seamlessly introducing their own content into the Learning Path.

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Chapter 1: The World of Human Resources Management If nothing else, my students should learn that… 

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Human resources management (HRM) involves a number of policies and practices (e.g., recruitment, selection, training, health and safety, etc.) that are designed to provide employees with the ability, motivation, and opportunity to perform their jobs well.

Effective HRM requires a consideration of the organization‘s strategy, as well as the social and political landscape. This requires the HRM department to be a strategic partner and a champion of change. Further, human resources (HR) must partner with line management, who are often the conduits of HR policies.

Learning outcomes 1. Explain how human resources managers and other managers can have rewarding careers by helping their firms gain a sustainable competitive advantage through the strategic utilization of people.

2. Explain how good human resources practices can help a firm‘s globalization, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability efforts.

3. Describe how technology can improve how people perform their work and how they are managed.

4. Explain the dual goals HR managers have in terms of increasing productivity and controlling costs.

5. Discuss how firms can leverage employee differences to their strategic advantage and how educational and cultural changes in the workforce are affecting how human resources managers engage employees.

6. Provide examples of the roles and competencies of today‘s human resources professionals.

Why is this chapter important?

The purpose of this chapter is to acquaint students with the importance of HRM and how it contributes to the achievement of an organization‘s overall objectives. In this chapter, we discuss the following topics: how people can be a source of competitive advantage, the competitive challenges facing firms, and the concerns of employees themselves. Students are made aware of some of the important efforts that both large and small companies are making to develop and utilize the talents of their people, as well as the changes taking place in the work environment. We end the chapter with a discussion of the competencies that HR managers and line managers need to possess in order to work together to make the most of employees‘ talents.

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Why should students care?

The answer to this question is much the same, regardless of whether students plan on a career in HRM. Organizations compete through people. Studying HRM gives students an understanding of the systems and processes needed to develop and utilize the talents and energies of employees for the firm to gain a competitive advantage. Staffing the organization, designing jobs and teams, developing skilful employees, identifying approaches for improving their performance, and rewarding employee successes—all typically labelled HRM issues—are as relevant to line managers as they are to managers in the HR department. The HR professional supports managers as they manage their employees to achieve organizational goals. Because employee skills, knowledge, and abilities are among the most distinctive and renewable resources on which a company can draw, their strategic management is more important than ever.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started Begin the class with a brief overview of the strategic role of the HRM function. For instance, emphasize these points: 

Studying HRM gives students an understanding of the systems and processes needed to develop and utilize the talents and energies of employees in order for the firm to gain a competitive advantage.  Staffing the organization, designing jobs and teams, developing skilful employees, identifying approaches for improving their performance, and rewarding employee successes—all typically labelled HRM issues—are as relevant to line managers as they are to managers in the HR department.

Explain that this is because organizations ―compete through people,‖ and the success of doing so depends on an organization‘s ability to manage talent, or human capital, defined as the economic value of employees‘ knowledge, skills, and capabilities.

Some ideas for getting students energized at the beginning of class include the following:  Connectivity Activity: Ask students to think about a previous or current job. In small groups, discuss their interaction with the HRM department. Note the activities mentioned by students on the board or flip chart. Ask students whether all of the activities are the sole remit of HRM. There are likely to be shared responsibilities with management. Highlight some of the reasons why HRM is important for those who wish to be HRM managers, but also for those who wish to manage others, or even start their own business.

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Connectivity Activity: Go to websites for HR professional associations, such as the HRPA, CIPD, or SHRM. Collect information on each of the topics to be discussed over the course of the semester (e.g., week-to-week breakdown of HRM activities, such as recruiting and training). Have students get into small groups, and give one topic per group. Ask students to develop a presentation on three of the most important or interesting elements in the reading, and then present their findings to one another. This can also be done at the end of the lecture as a preview for the rest of the course.

Call-Out Question: Think of a firm you are familiar with that is facing dramatic changes in order to survive. How do you think the firm‘s personnel can help it adapt?

What role will the company‘s HR staff play in helping with that goal?

Call-Out Question: Ask students whether they can think of a situation in which, if a particular person left an organization, that organization‘s expertise would drop rapidly.

There are many instances in which a single individual‘s expertise has an enormous influence on an organization. Some high profile names will jump out. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Bill Gates at Microsoft are highly recognizable executives. If students have a difficult time coming up with easily recognizable people, ask them about small companies in their hometowns. What would happen at a mom-and-pop store if Mom or Pop decided to leave? In small businesses especially, the human capital may be almost completely tied up in one or two key individuals. The talent, service, and/or reputation of those key individuals ―are‖ the business. Highlight that HRM programs are often the conduit through which knowledge is developed and transferred among employees, and that HRM can provide the systems and procedures so that if a star CEO leaves, he or she does not take the success of the company with him or her. To go outside the bounds of the textbook, it is possible to introduce ―strong‖ cultures in this space (Bowen and Ostroff, 2004; see the full citation in the Recommended Reading section).

Why Study Human Resources Management?

Human Capital and HRM The term human capital describes the economic value of employees‘ knowledge, skills, and capabilities. To build human capital in organizations, managers must continue to develop superior knowledge, skills, and experience within their workforces and retain and promote top performers. 

Direct students to review Figure 1.1: Overall Framework for Human Resources Management.

Competitive Issues and Human Resources Management Professional organizations such as the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) and HRPS seek the input from chief executives and HR managers to identify the most important issues/challenges. viii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

ISSUE 1: Responding Strategically to Changes and Disruptions in the Local and Global Marketplace

HR Managers and Business Strategies In order to meet this challenge, HRM professionals need to know the business strategy, and how to align its policies with it. 

Call-Out Question: Since 2008, the world has undergone a ―Great Recession.‖ How has this impacted business? What have organizations done in order to survive? Students may generate the following strategies:  Downsizing—the planned elimination of jobs  Outsourcing—hiring someone from outside the company to perform business processes that were previously done within the firm  Offshoring—involves shifting work to overseas locations  Employee leasing—the process of dismissing employees who are then hired by a leasing company, which handles all HR-related activities, and contracts with that company to lease back the employees  Reengineering—a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service, and/or speed  Six Sigma—a set of principles and practices whose core ideas include understanding customer needs, doing things right the first time, and striving for continuous improvement  Note: This topic should be noted on the board for further discussion. Also, more details on some of these challenges are found in Issue 5; this discussion can occur during Issue 1 or Issue 5.  See Reality Check: Six Sigma for an example of how Six Sigma is used at Goodyear Canada.

Once this list is complete (you may need to probe students or teach some of this material, depending on the experience of students), highlight that a common denominator of all these strategies is that they require companies to engage in change management. Change management is a systematic way of bringing about and managing both organizational changes and changes on the individual level. Although most employees understand that change is continuous—responsibilities, job assignments, and work processes change—people often resist it because it requires them to modify or abandon ways of working that have been successful or at least familiar to them. Successful change rarely occurs naturally or easily. 

Think-Pair-Share: Explain to students that organizations that fail to change do not survive. Provide students with a list of John Kotter‘s (1995) eight steps to managing change, and ask them how HRM might contribute to those activities. The steps are: (1) Not establishing a sense of urgency; (2) Not creating a powerful coalition to guide the effort; (3) Lacking leaders who have a vision; (4) Lacking leaders who communicate ix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

the vision; (5) Not removing obstacles to the new vision or motivating employees; (6) Not systematically planning for and creating short-term ―wins‖; (7) Declaring victory too soon; (8) Not anchoring changes in the corporate culture, or failing to maintain the momentum of the change. See the full citation in the Recommended Reading section.

Some of the strategic changes companies pursue are reactive changes that result when external forces, such as the competition, a recession, law change, or an ethical crisis (such as the backlash Volkswagen experienced in 2016 for cheating on its vehicles‘ emissions tests) have already affected an organization‘s performance. Other strategies are proactive change, initiated by managers to take advantage of targeted opportunities, particularly in fast-changing industries.  Making Links with Previous Learning: Refer to the list generated previously about how organizations are dealing with change (downsizing, outsourcing, Six Sigma, process re-engineering, and the other ideas generated by students). Ask students which of those strategies are more likely to be reactive change, and which are more likely to be proactive change initiatives.  Small Group Exercise: State instructions and expectations for a small group activity (5–6 students); the response should be done in PowerPoint if all groups have laptops; limit the number of slides (5–8). In each small group, ask for a volunteer who has a bad habit that he or she wants to get rid of (e.g., nail biting, procrastination, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, etc.). As a group, develop a change management program for the student volunteer while incorporating the key elements of change management from the text. Encourage groups to display their change management programs with their PowerPoint presentations. Comment on the merits of each group‘s presentation, and also on the difficulties in assessing whether the change management programs will produce lasting change, that is, that the bad habits will not return.

Competing, Recruiting, and Staffing Globally

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The strategies companies are pursing today increasingly involve one or more elements of globalization. The integration of world economies and markets has sent businesses abroad to look for opportunities and fend off foreign competitors domestically.

How Globalization Affects HRM 

When managers talk about ―going global,‖ they have to balance a complicated set of issues related to different geographies, including different cultures, employment laws, and business practices. Human resources issues underlie each of these concerns.  Call-Out Question: Ask students to imagine that they want to send a Canadian manager to Hong Kong for two years to give the manager developmental opportunities.

The Canadian manager earns $120,000 CAD/year. What would be some of the challenges this manager might face? Lots of different issues may arise, such as family

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issues, training in cultural sensitivity, performance management, and compensation.

Some students will know that $120,000 CAD does not go very far in Hong Kong!

Then, ask students to imagine taking the same manager and having him or her work in Mexico for two years. Ask them how far they think that $120,000 CAD would get a person in Mexico! Reinforce the need to have a strategy for dealing with these issues, as perceptions of fairness serve as a bedrock of effective HRM. Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 2 as a basis for a think-pair-share: Suppose your boss asked you to summarize the major people-related concerns in opening an office in China. What issues would be on your list? See the recommended response in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

ISSUE 2: Setting and Achieving Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Goals Corporate social responsibility (CSR), or the responsibility of the firm to act in the best interests of the people and the communities affected by its activities, has become important both domestically and abroad to help the bottom line with job selection, HR leadership, and good corporate citizenship.

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: Introduce CSR as ―the responsibility of the firm to act in the best interests of the people and the communities affected by its activities.‖ Sources of information about companies and their programs to promote corporate social responsibility can be found on the news service at csrwire.com. Introduce this challenge by copying pictures from websites of organizations‘ career sites showing that they are committed to CSR. Ask students why organizations would do this, and generate a discussion about the benefits of engaging in CSR from both the employee and employer perspectives.

Debate: Put students into groups of two. Assign one student the position ―CSR has no business in business,‖ and assign the other student the position ―CSR must be a priority for all businesses.‖ Given that this is the first lecture, it might be wise to ask the conCSR group to meet with each other, and the pro-CSR group to meet with each other.

This way, students can share ideas before the debate. After about five minutes, ask students whether their partner made any good points. Jot them on the board and take up with the class.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 3 as a basis for a think-pair-share: Name a company you hope to work for someday. What is its track record in terms of corporate social responsibility and sustainability? Are these factors important to you?

Why or why not? See the recommended response in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions. If you have access to the Internet in the classroom, you can look up some of the organizations online to see if they have CSR agendas.

ISSUE 3: Advancing HRM with Technology

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Collaborative software allows workers to interface and share information with one another electronically (e.g., wikis, Google Docs, online chat, web and video conferencing).

From Touch Labour to Knowledge Workers Advancements in technology have changed the business world—cloud computing and social media are prime examples. Technology requires knowledge workers rather than touch workers.

Knowledge workers are workers whose responsibilities extend beyond the physical execution of work to include planning, decision making, and problem solving.

Knowledge-based training includes massive open online courses (MOOCs) and virtual learning. Games such as Second Life may also have a role in learning. 

Class Discussion: Ask students whether they use any of the aforementioned collaborative software when working in groups for their courses in university. Many students will have used at least one type of collaborative software. Ask students about the benefits and drawbacks of using such software for group projects. Then ask them to compare their answers with what they believe occurs in the workplace.  Class Discussion: From Touch Labour to Knowledge Workers. Discuss with students their experience with jobs that have moved from ―touch labour‖ to ―knowledge workers,‖ or workers whose responsibilities extend beyond the physical execution of work to include planning, decision making, and problem solving. Ask them what kinds of skills these new jobs require. It may be the case that current employees can be retrained to assume new roles and responsibilities. Other times, new employees have to be hired. Discuss whether, as employees, they would prefer to learn via regular training, just-in-time learning, or virtual learning environments. You can also produce a copy of Highlights in HRM 1.1, The Future of Work, which outlines a number of rather provocative predictions about the future of work. Ask students whether they think these events will happen, and the impact the changes will have for organizations and employees.

Influence of Technology on HRM A human resources information system (HRIS) is a computerized system that provides current and accurate data for purposes of control and decision making.  Use Highlights in HRM 1.2: Factors to Consider When Evaluating a Human Resources Information System to show the factors that should be considered when evaluating an HRIS system.  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to collaboratively respond to Discussion Question 4: Will technology eliminate the need for HR managers? At this point, this question may be best used for experienced students, rather than novice ones. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.  Collaborative Team Project: Put students into groups to compare, contrast, and evaluate two HRIS systems, using the guidelines presented in Highlights in HRM 1.2. xii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Information can be sourced from the Internet. Take care to urge students to NOT get into contact with any provider, as this may have negative consequences for the university or college.

ISSUE 4: Containing Costs while Retaining Top Talent and Maximizing Productivity

Stress to students that HRM professionals need to simultaneously focus on retaining top talent and maximizing productivity. Inform students that virtually every major corporation has undergone some cycle of downsizing.

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Call-Out Question: Do you think it is possible to maintain the morale of your firm‘s employees in the face of shrinking budgets and benefits? How might you do so? The answers to this question may very well link back to students‘ knowledge of organizational behaviour if this is a prerequisite for this course in Human Resources Management. Inform students that many of the theories underlying the study of human resources are rooted in organizational behaviour.

Linking Back to Previous Learning: Refer back to reactive versus proactive change, and show that downsizing can be a response to both.

Inform students about a study of 750 companies conducted by Watson Wyatt that showed that organizations with excellent recruitment and retention policies provide a nearly 8 percent higher return to shareholders compared to those that do not excel in these areas. Also, share that organizations with a strong commitment to job security earned an additional 1.4 percent for shareholders. Ask students to generate reasons for these counterintuitive findings. Advocates of a no-layoff policy often note that layoffs may backfire after taking into account such hidden costs, including severance and rehiring costs, accrued vacation and sick day payouts, pension and benefit payoffs, potential lawsuits from aggrieved workers, loss of institutional memory and trust in management, lack of staffers when the economy rebounds, and survivors who are risk averse, paranoid, and political. Companies that avoid downsizing say they get some important benefits from such policies, such as a fiercely loyal, more productive workforce, higher customer satisfaction, readiness to snap back with the economy, a recruiting edge, and workers who are not afraid to innovate, knowing their jobs are safe.

ISSUE 5: Responding to the Demographic and Diversity Challenges of the Workforce

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Connectivity Question: Think about some of the teams you have been a member of.

Which of them performed better— those that were diverse or those that were not? What xiii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

challenges and opportunities did the more diverse teams present? How do you think they translate to human resources management?

Demographic Changes To support their companies‘ strategies, HR managers must be aware of trends in the workforce.

The Diversity/Immigration Challenge  Share the Facts: Use Figure 1.2: Composition of the Population of Canada (Millions) to show the composition of the population of Canada. Ask students whether they think the composition has changed since 2006. Encourage them to return to class next time with the answer.  Link It to HRM: To accommodate the shift in demographics, demand, and labour trends, businesses know it is absolutely vital to increase their efforts to recruit and train a more diverse workforce. They realize that immigrants are not only critical to their very survival, but also add to their strength and allow them to better attract and serve a larger customer base.

Age Distribution of Employees  Share the Facts: Canada‘s population was 35.2 million in 2016. Of these, about 6 million (19 percent) are 65 or over. The number of seniors in the Canadian population is expected to double over the next 10 years. Seniors accounted for 14.8 percent of the population in 2011, up from 13.7 percent five years earlier. In 2011, the Atlantic Provinces, Quebec, and British Columbia accounted for the highest proportions of seniors, whereas Alberta had the lowest proportion. Ask students to compare how their parents approach a task to how they approach a task.  Link It to HRM: Some companies such as Home Depot and McDonald‘s are recruiting over 50 employees because, although their healthcare costs might be higher, their retention, absenteeism, and transition costs are lower. Older workers now are choosing to work longer. Good health and longer life expectancies play the biggest role in extended work lives. But some retirees have returned to the workforce because of economic needs.  Use Case Study 2: Intergenerational Issues to generate discussion among students on how HR and line management may need to tailor their approach to suit the needs of an intergenerationally diverse workforce. See recommended responses to the discussion questions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Gender Distribution of the Workforce  Share the Facts: The percentage of women in the labour force is nearly 50 percent, although more than 60 percent of university graduates are women.  Link It to HRM: Employers are taking measures to ensure that women are treated equally in the workplace in terms of advancement opportunities and compensation.

They also need to accommodate working parents through parental leave, part-time employment, flexible work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, and child and elder care assistance. xiv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Collaborative Team Project: Use Discussion Question 6 as a basis for a collaborative team project: What are the pros and cons of having a more diverse workforce? Is Canada in a better position to compete globally because of its diverse population? Find examples from a school or work project where having a diverse team made a difference. See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions. 

Think-Pair-Share: The textbook emphasizes that harnessing a company‘s talent means being aware of characteristics common to employees while also managing these employees as individuals. Ask students to take either gender or generation Y as an example. Ask them what might be common to the group (either females versus males, or generation Y versus others), and what factors may be more individual in managing either female or generation Y employees. For instance, women may have childbearing in common (most women have the ability to bear children), but they differ with regards to factors that motivate them at work.

ISSUE 6: Adapting to Educational and Cultural Shifts Affecting the Workforce Education of the Workforce  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 7 as a basis for a think-pair-share: Why do HR managers need to stay abreast of the educational levels and work expectations of people in the workforce? See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions. Ask students to describe how long current graduates seek a job and how long they expect to be unemployed after graduation.

Cultural Changes Employee Rights Concern for Privacy The Changing Nature of the Job  See Ethics in HRM: Skywalkers and Groundworkers.  Debate: Ask students to get into pairs to debate the merits of part-time work. Once you‘ve given them about 5 minutes, ask students to read The Business Case: Advantages and Disadvantages of Part-Time Workers to determine whether they missed any important points and learned something new. Ask students whether the information changed their mind regarding the merits of part-time work.

Changing Attitudes toward Work  Clickers: Using either clickers or just a simple piece of scrap paper, ask students to rank order the list of job characteristics that are most important to them personally.

Then show the actual rank order from Figure 1.3: Work Is More Than Just a Paycheque to demonstrate the reported findings. A discussion that refers back to generational differences or gender may occur, as many students often suggest that they are motivated by different things depending on the stage of their career or gender.

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Making Explicit Real World Links: Use Highlights in HRM 1.3: Work–Life Harmony to see how Nora Spinks, an expert in work–life harmony, consults her clients.

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Think-Pair-Share for Issues 5 and 6: Provide students with a ―What in the World‖ Fact Sheet. First individually, and then in groups, ask them to discuss how the facts may impact upon HRM professionals. The facts can be presented in written form, or you can provide copies of some of the figures to students. The latter option is preferable, since it will provide students with an opportunity to understand material that is presented graphically. Facts may also include the following: 1. Minorities in Canada are increasing relative to the population.

2. Canada‘s population was approximately 37 million in September 2018.

3. Women make up nearly 50 percent of the workforce in Canada, and the educational attainment of women is also increasing relative to men. Today, more than 60 percent of university graduates are women.

4. While the complexity of jobs has increased over time, the skills gap is widening.

5. Nearly half of all jobs created in the past two decades are nonstandard—parttime, temporary, or contract work.

6. Job attitudes have significantly changed in the past few decades. Many employees—especially younger ones—believe that satisfaction with life is more likely to result from balancing their work challenges and rewards with those of their personal life. Money isn‘t everything! In fact, people are increasingly looking for meaningful work.

7. The majority of employees have no children under the age of 18.

The Partnership of Line Managers and Human Resources Departments Responsibilities of the HR Manager The major activities of HR managers include the following: (1) Strategic advice and counsel; (2) Service; (3) Policy formulation and implementation; (4) Employee advocacy.  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 8 as the basis of a think-pair-share: In your opinion, what is the most important role of HR managers? Should HR professionals be the ―voice‖ for employees or the ―spokesperson‖ for managers?

Explain your view. Should HR professionals be licensed, like accountants and lawyers?

See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Competencies of the HR Manager Competencies of HR managers include (1) Business Mastery; (2) HR Mastery; (3) Change Mastery; (4) Personal Credibility. These competencies are illustrated in Figure 1.4: Human Resource Competency Model.  Use Case Study 1: New HR Strategy Makes Lloyds a ―Best Company,‖ and encourage students to answer the questions. See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-ofChapter Case Studies.

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Use Case Study 3: Shell’s Top Recruiter Takes His Cues from Marketing to generate a discussion on the synergy between marketing and HRM, highlighting another important skill of HRM. See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Reinforce the idea with students that managing people ultimately depends on effective supervisors and line managers. It may likely be the case that most of your students will be line managers and supervisors rather than HR specialists. Ask students about their career plans and have them indicate how they believe a course in HRM will help them become better managers.

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Use HRM Experience: Balancing Competitive Challenges and Employee Concerns to encourage students to think about the different roles of HR professionals vis-à-vis line management.

Finishing Class    

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Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to reinforce learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Ask students to respond to a Discussion Question to present to the class the following week.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper, and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Provide each student with a sticky note, and ask them to write down anything that was unclear to them in class, or if there are any unanswered questions. Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading  

Bowen, D.E., & Ostroff, C. Understanding HRM-Firm performance linkages: The role of the ‗strength‘ of the HRM system. Academy of Management Review, 29, (2), 203–221.

Kotter, J. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 50–67.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Are people always an organization’s most valuable asset? Why or why not? Name other strategic or valuable assets of organizations. Contrary to what many managers might say, people are not always an organization‘s most important asset. In fact, many times managers xvii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

try to suppress the impact that employees can have on the organization (e.g., by designing jobs that do not let individual talents show, by not giving employees input into decisions, and so on). Employees can be the most important asset and directly impact the competitiveness of an organization under certain circumstances. When employees are managed in a way that adds value (via efficiency, innovativeness, and so on), when their skills and competencies are rare and difficult to imitate, and when they are organized in a way that takes advantage of their talents, they can be an enormously important asset to an organization. In addition to human capital, other strategic assets of an organization include its technology, its financial resources, and its capital.

2. Suppose your boss asked you to summarize the major people-related concerns in opening an office in China. What issues would be on your list? Some of the most basic concerns about opening up an office in another country include legal, cultural, and administrative differences. Students should be made aware of the options an organization has in terms of hiring people from the host country versus sending over expatriates. Depending on the people hired, training issues become important, as do issues related to pay, career development, and the like. Chapter 15 focuses directly on these concerns in international HRM. 3. Name a company you hope to work for someday. What is its track record in terms of corporate social responsibility and sustainability? Are these factors important to you? Why or why not? Sources of information about companies and their programs to promote corporate social responsibility can be found at csrwire.com.

4. Will technology eliminate the need for HR managers? Emphasize that technology has a number of benefits for the HRM professional. For instance, it automates routine activities, alleviates administrative burdens, reduces costs, and improves productivity internal to the HR function itself. It also has relational benefits by connecting people with each other and with HR data they need. Finally, it is changing the way HR processes are designed and executed. Technology frees up time for the HR professional to spend on more strategic aspects of the people side of business. Technology does not run on its own; instead, it must be managed and leveraged in such a way to contribute to the organization‘s goals. Hence, the need for HR will not be eliminated. Moreover, HR has been positioned as a coach for management, which requires the HR manager to help management solve unique problems, whereby the solutions cannot be provided by a computer.

5. In groups, debate the proposition: Employees are an expense, and their numbers should be reduced. See The Business Case: Advantages of Part-Time Workers for a list of advantages of part-time work, and for some advantages of employing on a full-time basis.

6. What are the pros and cons of having a more diverse workforce? Is Canada in a better position to compete globally because of its diverse population? Find examples from a school or work project where having a diverse team made a difference and explain that xviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

difference. Diversity has its costs and its benefits. It is more difficult to create and manage a diverse workforce. Recruiting is harder to do, and getting people to work together is a challenge. All organizations are based on two design principles: variety and integration.

Diversity equals variety, and out of variety comes creativity and innovation. But this only happens if variety/diversity can be integrated and coordinated. Otherwise, the organization will fall apart from differences among people. Because of the global nature of so much of Canadian business, a diverse workforce can provide a competitive edge. Diversity is not achieved without changes to attitudes that are often prevalent within an organization‘s culture.

7. Why do HR managers need to stay abreast of the educational levels and work expectations of people in the workforce? In predicting supply and demand of employees, understanding the population‘s educational levels and work expectations are crucial. Moreover, it is also imperative to understand people‘s expectations so that they can be met upon employment.

Understanding educational levels may imply more or less training in either core or noncore job activities. For instance, if a group of employees are unable to read well, HR may need to assist them in understanding the Health and Safety procedures, as well as completing an employee satisfaction survey.

8. In your opinion, what is the most important role of HR managers? Should HR professionals be the ―voice‖ for employees or the ―spokesperson‖ for managers? Explain your view. Should HR professionals be licensed, like accountants and lawyers? It is probably impossible to answer this question definitively. It is meant to stimulate conversation about the complementary roles within HRM—how they fit together and support the business. Without any one of the roles, the pyramid topples. In today‘s organizations, it may be the case that personal credibility is the most central role. Without it, nothing else matters. HR managers must be the ―voice‖ for employees in that they must understand the issues that employees face. At the same time, HR managers must be the ―spokesperson‖ for managers since it is important to understand the strategic direction of the company and to match the right employees with the achievement of its objectives.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: New HR Strategy Makes Lloyds a “Best Company” 1. What skills does Black think employees need to work successfully in the area of HR? The case does not specify the skills that Black thinks the workforce in general needs to work successfully in HR; however, based on the focus of her efforts and on what she has indicated regarding the ideal characteristics of future HR professionals, several things are obvious. HR professionals need to develop certain attitudes and understanding and be able to focus. As she put it, ―They must understand change and transformation, excel at operations, and balance tactical and strategic thinking and acting. They will have to be able to manage and navigate organizational complexity and ambiguities and not be afraid to say no occasionally in order to establish

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appropriate boundaries with the business.‖ For the general workforce, their demonstration of the ability to respond positively to change was a plus for her and a characteristic that will need to be maintained and enhanced for the future.

2. What are some of the outcomes of the company’s new HR strategy? Some of the outcomes of the company‘s new HR strategy include not only a more positive internal organizational environment in which employees can function more effectively, but also widespread publicity regarding that environment (the newspaper recognition of the firm as one of the ―Top 100 Best Companies to Work For‖), which makes it easier to attract valuable talent to the firm.

3. What do you think might be some of the challenges of establishing HR policies for a global company? HRM and senior management need to balance a complicated set of issues related to different geographies, including different cultures, employment laws, and business practices. Human resources issues underlie each of these concerns. They include such things as dealing with employees today who, via the Internet, are better informed about global job opportunities and are willing to pursue them, even if it means working for competing companies. Gauging the knowledge and skill base of international workers and figuring out how best to hire and train them, sometimes with materials that must be translated into a number of different languages, is also an issue for firms. Relocating managers and other workers to direct efforts of an international workforce is a challenge. HR professionals are frequently responsible for implementing training programs and enhancing their firms‘ managers‘ understanding of other cultures and practices, as well as dealing with the culture shock these workers might experience and pay differentials that must be adjusted, depending on the country.

4. What types of situations do you think might require an HR manager to say ―no‖? Issues related to ethics and ethical behaviour of employees or the organization, and also issues related to maintaining the distinction between line management and HRM, might require an HR manager to say ―no.‖ Often, business partners are asked to perform line management duties, and at times the line can become blurred so that HRM becomes more of an administrator than a strategic partner. In these cases, HRM professionals may need to ―push back‖ in order to restore their position.

Case Study 2: Intergenerational Issues 1. Based on your experiences working with students/colleagues of different ages, do you believe that there are generational differences in attitudes toward work? Do a search to see if there is any evidence for these beliefs. All individuals work to satisfy many goals— to pay bills, to self-actualize, to socialize, to learn new skills, to innovate, to lead, to manage, and so forth. Irrespective of age, all generations have these desires and one generation does not trump another as being better. However, much research has been conducted about the attitudinal and motivational differences with the Baby Boomers, Generations X and Y, Echo Boomers, and so on, to demonstrate these differences in work ethic, attitudes, motivation, trust, and so forth. What this research does is to polarize the generations, giving them reasons to generate conflict. It is top management‘s responsibility xx Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

to generate a culture where all generations have merit, and seniority is not the only characteristic that is valued. Longevity in a company is meaningless if an employee is left to coast and contribute less and less each year, as in the case of Peregrine. There is very little empirical evidence that suggests there are distinct generational differences. Most research shows that there is more intragenerational diversity compared to intergenerational diversity. Moreover, given the globalizing world, what makes a ―generation‖ is different in different national contexts. Therefore, the classification may be too broad in today‘s business environment.

2. As the demand for autos declined, and GM and Chrysler faced bankruptcy, the benefits given to auto workers were reduced. Check out the compensation packages for new auto workers and decide if the package is attractive enough for young workers to leave school, as these young workers did. The wages for employees in the Big Three auto manufacturers (Ford, GM, and Chrysler) were originally more than twice the amount earned by those working for foreign manufacturers. When the restructuring of 2008–09 went into effect, the wages were dropped to be more in line with the other auto manufacturers. With massive layoffs and plant closures, the opportunities to work for the Big Three also became scarce.

Therefore, young workers would not be inclined to leave school for jobs that did not exist, since only the most senior employees remained in these companies, as long as they did not accept buyout packages. There are numerous websites (e.g., macleans.ca/economy/business/auto-workers-make-a-lot-of-money-but-not-that-much/) that state the average auto worker salary in Canada. The average seems to be about $35/hour, which amounts to over $70 000 a year. The average manufacturing worker, on the other hand, earns about $21/hour, amounting to about 42 000/year.

Case Study 3: Shell’s Top Recruiter Takes His Cues from Marketing 1. What functions of HRM are similar to marketing functions? How can thinking about ―marketing‖ a company’s jobs improve the strategic focus of HR personnel?

Recruitment, by its very nature, involves marketing. At Shell, HR needed to brand the employment experience, and market to potential job applicants. It can improve the strategic focus of HR because it forces some important questions, such as these: What type of employee do we want? What are our values, and how can we demonstrate those in our brand? What is our employee value proposition? How can we best meet the needs of our employees?

2. If you were planning to use marketing strategies to ―brand‖ a company as an employer of choice, what are some of the factors you would consider? Typical responses might include the types of employees required. For instance, it is important to know whether the organization is seeking creativity, risk-taking behaviours, team playing skills, or if it values on-the-job learning. These elements can be features in the branding. Moreover, it is important to know whether the recruitment pool is local, regional, or global, and whether and how the recruitment drive would be adapted as a result.

3. Do you agree with Singh’s statement that in the future, companies will have to apply for skilled people to work for them rather than candidates applying to work at an

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organization? Why or why not? Refer to the discussion in the text on knowledge workers. Engineers are an example of knowledge workers, who are in high demand in the Canadian and global marketplace. Moreover, the case states that many engineers at Royal Dutch Shell will be retiring soon, exacerbating the issue. So, in this case, the power shifts toward the engineers, rather than the employer. In response to Singh‘s statement, it is important to recognize that he is speaking about engineers. Would he say the same thing about administrative assistants, janitors, or HRM professionals?

Chapter 2: Strategy and Human Resources Planning If nothing else, my students should learn that… 

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It is important for HRM to align its policies and processes with the business strategy in order to provide value to the organization (external fit), and that the policies and processes are mutually reinforcing (internal fit). HR planning follows the same pattern as organizational strategic planning, and hence the two processes are complementary.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of strategy, it is imperative to take the ―people side‖ into consideration. Sole reliance on financial documents (e.g., financial statements, cash flow statements, income statements) largely ignores investment in human capital.

Learning outcomes 1. Explain how human resources planning and a firm‘s mission, vision, and values are integrally linked to its strategy.

2. Understand how an organization‘s external environment influences its strategic planning.

3. Understand why it is important for an organization to do an internal resource analysis.

4. Explain the linkages between competitive strategies and human resources.

5. Understand what is required for a firm to successfully implement a strategy and assess its effectiveness.

6. Describe how firms evaluate their strategies and human resources implementation.

Why is this chapter important?

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the nexus of organizational strategy and HR planning. It emphasizes the use of planning as a means of ensuring that qualified employees will be available to meet staffing needs when and where they occur. Moreover, it focuses on how HRM policies and practices can contribute toward achieving an organization‘s strategic goals. This chapter is important because it situates HRM within the broader organizational agenda, and demonstrates how it can be configured to help an organization succeed.

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Why should students care?

Surveys show that 92 percent of chief financial officers now believe human capital affects an organization‘s customer service, 82 percent believe it affects profitability, and 72 percent believe it affects innovation. And, in a survey by the consulting firm Deloitte, nearly 80 percent of corporate executives said the importance of HRM in their firms has grown substantially over the years, and two-thirds said that HR expenditures are now viewed as a strategic investment rather than simply a cost to be minimized. Indeed, research shows that strategically designed and implemented HR systems increase the value of firms, something executives are keenly interested in accomplishing. They are also demanding their human resources groups to push past short-term projections and provide detailed forecasts for needs and the associated costs over a two- to three-year horizon. Even small companies are realizing that their employees are the key to ensuring their ability to compete and survive.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started   

Find some facts about organizations that have changed their strategy. Present the stories to students, and ask them the implications for HRM and the management of people. Impress on students that most strategic moves have HRM repercussions.

Bring a copy of your university‘s strategy document and share it with the class. Ask how they see the strategy being implemented in the university, or how it isn‘t!

Ask students to think about their strategy for performing well in this class. Ask students whether they have set goals, such as to learn a lot about HRM and perhaps get an A! You will then want to remind students that strategy is much more than just the iteration of a goal. Strategy is also about making a plan. Ask students if they have a plan that will help them to achieve their vision in the class.

Strategic Planning and Human Resources HR planning is an essential activity of organizations. Strategic planning is procedures for making decisions about the organization‘s long-term goals and strategies. Human resources planning (HRP) is the process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into, within, and out of an organization. Strategic human resources management is the pattern of human resources deployments and activities that enable an organization to achieve its strategic goals.

Strategic Planning and HRP: Linking the Processes Good HR managers consider human resources planning and strategic planning together.

Human resources planning provides a set of inputs into the strategic formulation process by determining whether a firm has the types and numbers of people available to pursue a given xxiii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

strategy. In strategy implementation, the company‘s executives must make resource allocation decisions to implement that strategy, including decisions related to the firm‘s structure, processes, and human capital.  Draw a rough sketch of Figure 2.1: Linking Strategic Planning and Human Resources, but don‘t include any written text (no words), or omit some of the words. Distribute copies to students and ask them to fill in the empty figure with the appropriate words. The figure serves as a map for the chapter and shows how companies align their human resource planning and strategic planning in this way: A firm‘s business strategy, along with its overall purpose, goals, and values, establishes the context for its HR strategy and the number and types of people, the skills they must have, and the like. In other words, the firm‘s HRM strategy follows the business strategy and helps to implement it. This figure also serves as a map of this chapter.

STEP 1: Mission, Vision, and Values   

The mission is the basic purpose of the organization as well as its scope of operations.

The strategic vision provides a perspective on where the company is headed and what the organization can become in the future.

Organizational core values are the strong and enduring beliefs and principles that the company uses as a foundation for its decisions.

Developing a Mission Statement A manager or business owner can craft a mission statement by asking basic questions about the firm, its purpose, its customers, and its values.

HR’s Role in Establishing and Reinforcing a Firm’s Mission, Vision, and Values HR managers help embody the firm‘s mission, vision, and values within the organization by communicating, recruiting and hiring, and behaving with those values in mind. o Connectivity Activity: Find examples of vision and mission statements of well-known organizations (e.g., McDonalds, Google, Starbucks, Revlon, etc.). Put the vision and mission statements on a slide, without telling students the name of the organization.

Ask students if they can guess each organization according to their respective vision and mission statements. o Call-Out Question: Who are vision statements for—the public or employees?

Reinforce that marketing professionals focus on how to market products or the organization‘s image to the public, but the vision statement is meant primarily for employees in the organization. Nokia‘s vision statement is a good example of this: Connecting People and Very Human Technology. It is meant for employees to understand, not the public. o Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 2.1: Air Canada: Mission, Vision, and Values.

STEP 2: External Analysis xxiv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Environmental scanning is the systematic monitoring of the major external forces influencing the organization. Managers attend to a variety of external issues.

The Business Environment  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Ask students to put themselves in the armchair of a senior executive of Starbucks. Ask students to generate the factors that may impact upon Starbucks‘s success. Instead of teaching these seven factors in the external environment (1. the business environment, 2. the remote environment, 3. economic and ecological changes, 4. technological changes, 5. demographic changes, 6. social changes, 7. legal and regulatory changes) in a lecture format, try to encourage students, through probing questions, to generate them on their own. For instance, ask students whether they think that Starbucks keeps tabs on what Tim Hortons is doing.  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 2: What external forces influence the future of community colleges and universities? List these and discuss the implications for the demand for faculty. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions.

Competitive Environment Show students Figure 2.2: Five Forces Framework to illustrate that the competitive environment includes five forces. A general rule of thumb about this analysis is: The more power each of these forces has, the less profitable (and therefore attractive) the industry will be.

1. Customers 2. Rival Firms 3. New Entrants 4. Substitutes 5. Suppliers Stakeholders are key people and groups that have an interest in a firm‘s activities, and that can either affect them or be affected by them. A firm has primary stakeholders with a direct stake in the firm, and secondary stakeholders who can affect or be affected by the company. 

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Think-Pair-Share: Make Discussion Question 1 the basis for this think-pair-share.

Ask students: As you have learned, substitutes can be an opportunity or a threat. The smartphone is a great example of a new product that eliminated the need for many other products. In groups, develop a list of the products that the smartphone has replaced. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: In Reality Check: Spotting Trends in the Global Economy, David Foot, a demographer at the University of Toronto, explains why HR professionals must become aware of the need to scan.

STEP 3: Internal Analysis Core Capabilities

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Core capabilities are bundles of people, processes, and systems that distinguish an organization from its competitors and deliver value to customers. Value creation is what a firm adds to a product or service by virtue of making it; the amount of benefits provided by the product or service once the costs of making it are subtracted. Value creation as a cost– benefit scenario is value = benefits – costs.

Core capabilities can consist of a combination of three resources: (a) processes (standard routines for how work will be done), (b) systems (technologies), and (c) people.

Sustaining a Competitive Advantage Through People  Organizations can achieve a sustained competitive advantage through people if they are able to meet the following criteria: • The resources must be valuable.

• The resources must be rare.

• The resources must be difficult to imitate.

• The resources must be organized.  

Connectivity Activity: Find YouTube clips on Southwest‘s culture (quite a few show flight attendants entertaining customers). Ask students to watch the clips and then provide examples of how the culture is rare, valuable, inimitable, and organized.

Connectivity Activity: Use Sheehan‘s (2006) simulation to enable students to understand the resource-based view of the firm. See the full citation for this paper in the Recommended Reading section.

Types of Talent and Their Composition in the Workforce Use Figure 2.3: Mapping Human Capital to show that different occupational groups in an organization can be classified according to the degree to which they create strategic value and are unique to the organization. In many cases, HR practices will differ depending on the group to which the employees belong. HR practices vary for different employees: • Strategic knowledge workers • Core employees • Supporting workers • External partners and complementary skills   

Connectivity Activity: Use HRM Experience: Customizing HR for Different Types of Human Capital as the basis for a class discussion on HR architecture. See sample answers to this exercise in the HRM Experience section.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: The Province of British Columbia recognizes the value of human capital as described in Highlights in HRM 2.2: The Measurement of Human Capital.

Class Debate: Assign half of the class to argue that organizations should use contract workers, and half of the class to argue that organizations should use full-time contracts.

Information pertaining to these positions is found in Ethics in HRM: The Employment Contract and The Business Case: Hiring Contract Workers Pays.

Corporate Culture xxvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Organizations often conduct cultural audits to examine the values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations of their workforces.

A company‘s corporate culture is a source of competitive advantage; firms are also beginning to engage in what is called values-based hiring, which involves outlining the behaviours that exemplify a firm‘s corporate culture and then hiring people who are a fit for them.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Provide students with the example of SAS, a business-analytics corporation that often ranks No. 1 on Fortune magazine‘s ―Best Companies to Work For‖ list. In their cultural audit, they ask employees detailed questions about the company‘s pay and benefit programs, and a series of open-ended questions about the company‘s hiring practices, internal communications, training and recognition programs, and diversity efforts.

Forecasting Use Figure 2.4: Model of HR Forecasting to explain that managers focus on (at least) three key elements: (1) forecasting a firm‘s demand for employees; (2) forecasting the supply of employees; and (3) assessing a firm‘s human capital readiness: a gap analysis.

Forecasting A Firm’s Demand For Employees  Call-Out Question: Ask students whether they work over the holiday season (e.g., winter holiday break). Remind them that many employers (e.g., retail mainly, such as Indigo) hire more employees during this time period in order to meet customer demand.

The hiring process for a December start-date often begins in October. But how do such retailers know how many people to hire in October to be ready for the holiday period?

They need to engage in forecasting. Organizations can use one of two approaches to figure this out:  Quantitative approaches. An example is trend analysis, whereby a firm‘s employment requirements are forecasted on the basis of some organizational index.  Qualitative approaches. Management forecasts are the opinions (judgments) of supervisors, department managers, experts, or others knowledgeable about the organization‘s future employment needs. The Delphi technique attempts to decrease the subjectivity of forecasts by soliciting and summarizing the judgments of a preselected group of individuals.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Highlights in HRM 2.3: HRP and Strategy Questions to Ask Business Managers contains a list of questions that HR personnel can ask as part of the Delphi method.

Forecasting the Supply of Employees  Staffing tables  Markov analysis  Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Figure 2.5: Hypothetical Markov Analysis for a Retail Company for an example.  Skill inventories  Replacement charts  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Figure 2.6: An Executive Replacement xxvii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Chart shows an example of how an organization might develop a replacement chart for the managers in one of its divisions.

Succession planning  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Highlights in HRM 2.4: SuccessionPlanning Checklist shows a checklist for evaluating the ―success‖ of succession planning.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Highlights in HRM 2.5: Lack of Succession Planning Threatens Family Businesses to emphasize the importance of succession planning, not only in large organizations, but also smaller ones.

Assessing A Firm’s Human Capital Readiness: Gap Analysis  Human capital readiness: The process of evaluating the availability of critical talent in a company and comparing it to the firm‘s supply.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Figure 2.7: Assessing a Firm’s Human Capital to show how PharmaCo, a chemical manufacturing company, approaches human capital readiness. Managers begin by identifying a company‘s core capabilities and the key people and processes that are critical to those capabilities. PharmaCo‘s executive team identified eight key job ―families‖ that comprise about 100 employees of the firm‘s 1500-member staff. For each critical job family, managers identified the critical knowledge, skills, and behaviours necessary to build the core capabilities. They then determined the number of people required for these positions, as well as the number who are currently qualified. As the lower portion of the figure shows, the company‘s human readiness ranged between 0 percent for supply chain management design specialists and 75 percent for call centre representatives.

STEP 4: Formulating Strategy Strategy Tool: SWOT analysis is a comparison of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for strategy formulation purposes. Figure 2.8: An Example of a SWOT Analysis for Liz Claiborne shows a SWOT analysis done for the fashion apparel company. 

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Connectivity Activity: Go on the Internet and find an example of SWOT analysis for a well-known organization, such as Starbucks, McDonald‘s, or Google. Try to find an organization that your students know well (McDonald‘s normally does the trick!). Print out one copy of the SWOT for each group of about five students. Then cut out single sentences that are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats, and stick them in an envelope in no particular order. Provide each group with an empty SWOT grid and see whether they can determine which piece of information is an S, W, O, or T. Alternatively, you can give each student one slip of paper with a piece of tape, and make a giant SWOT grid on the board. Ask students to come to the board and tape their S, W, O, or T in the appropriate box. The learning point is that sometimes it is difficult to know whether an issue is an opportunity or a weakness; you can reinforce that O and T are external, and S and W are internal to the organization.

Linking to Previous Learning: Ask students to develop their own personal SWOT for this class. What are their strengths? (e.g., writing) What are their weaknesses? (e.g., multiple-choice tests) What are the opportunities? (e.g., online discussion boards) What xxviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

are the challenges? (e.g., friends want to go out on Friday night)

Corporate Strategy Corporate strategy focuses on domain selection, that is, the markets in which they will compete. Some options are:  Growth and Diversification  Mergers and Acquisitions  Strategic Alliances and Joint Ventures Team Assignment: Use Discussion Question 4 as the basis for a team assignment: Shopify and Tim Hortons are both Canadian success stories. From websites and news articles, try to articulate and compare their corporate strategies. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Business Strategy Low-Cost Strategy: Compete on Productivity and Efficiency  This strategy is based on cutting costs. A good example is McDonald‘s; it focuses on efficiency, productivity, and minimizing waste for a broad target base.

Differentiation Strategy: Compete on Unique Value Added  This strategy is based on providing something unique to customers. Examples include FedEx‘s focus on speed and flexible delivery, Holt Renfrew‘s commitment to fashion and customer service, and Apple‘s emphasis on innovation and product development. 

Group discussion: Use Case Study 1: Domino’s Tries to Get Its Strategic Recipe Right as the basis for a group discussion. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions.

Functional Strategy: Ensuring Alignment Vertical Fit/Alignment  This strategy focuses on the connection between the business objectives and the major initiatives in HR. Horizontal Fit/Alignment  This strategy ensures that HR practices are all aligned with one another internally to establish a configuration that is mutually reinforcing. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use the Baron and Kreps (1999) article (see Additional Teaching Resources for a full reference) to draw out examples of fit and misfit. The article reviews the Portman Hotel case (Harvard Business Review Case for sale), and can be used as a point of discussion on how HRM policies and practices need to ―fit,‖ both internally and externally. With a seasoned class, the instructor may wish to purchase the case from Harvard Business Review. With a less experienced class, it may be best to provide some clear examples from the Baron and Kreps (1999) article instead of using the full case.

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STEP 5: Strategy Implementation Use Figure 2.9: The 7-S Model to show the 7-S framework to reveal that HRM is instrumental to strategy implementation. While strategy lays out the route that the organization will take in the future, organizational structure is the framework in which activities of the organization members are coordinated.

Taking Action: Reconciling Supply and Demand Demand for a firm‘s products is based on business forecasts. Supply considerations involve filling employee vacancies to meet the forecasted demand for products. Organizations can hire, have current employees work overtime, recall laid-off workers, use temporary or contract employees, and outsource or offshore some of their business processes. 

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Student Team Presentations: In groups, ask students to answer Discussion Question 5: During the semester in which you are enrolled in this course, there will be news about an organization needing to reduce the workforce by thousands of employees.

What are the options? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option? See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions. Ask students to present their findings to the class. Alternatively, generate a list on the board together as a class. Then assign one option to each group, and ask each group to present to one another to foster collaborative learning.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Highlights in HRM 2.6: Managing Labour Shortages to show how one Nova Scotia company deals with labour shortages.

STEP 6: Evaluation and Assessment Evaluation and Assessment Issues Benchmarking is the process of identifying ―best practices‖ in a given area—for example, productivity, logistics, brand management, training—and then comparing the practices and performance to those of other companies.

Metrics fall into two basic categories:  Human capital metrics: assess aspects of the workforce  HR metrics: assess the performance of the HR function itself 



Making Explicit Real-World Links: Most large companies use software to track their HR metrics over time. Figure 2.10: An Example of an HR Dashboard illustrates an HR ―dashboard,‖ which is software that tracks and graphically displays HR statistics for managers to view at a glance (as you do your dashboard readings when you are driving).

Team Assignment: Look at studies being conducted by the HR Benchmarking Association at hrba.org. Write a report that summarizes the benchmarking activities in one industry. What impact would your results have for HRM managers in the best/worst of those organizations?

Measuring a Firm’s Strategic Alignment Strategy Mapping and the Balanced Scorecard The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a framework that helps managers translate their firms‘ xxx Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

strategic goals into operational objectives. The model has four related cells: (1) financial, (2) customer, (3) processes, and (4) learning. 

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 6: Imagine that you are president of the HR student association at your school. You want to measure the success of the association during your term. What metrics would you use? What benchmarks would you use? See the solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Measuring Horizontal Fit Making Explicit Real World Links: Use Figure 2.12: Assessing Horizontal Fit to show an example of how organizations can assess the horizontal fit of their HR practices. There are essentially three steps: 1. Managers identify the key workforce objectives they hope to achieve.

2. Managers identify each of the HR practices used to elicit or reinforce those workforce objectives (job design, staffing, training, appraisal).

3. Managers evaluate each HR practice on a scale of –5 (not supportive) to 5 (supportive).

By tallying up the ratings across managers, organizations can get a very clear idea of which HR practices are working together to achieve the workforce objectives and which are not.

Ensuring Strategic Flexibility for the Future Successful HRP helps increase organizational capability—the capacity of the organization to continuously act and change in pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage.  Flexibility can be achieved in two primary ways:  Coordination flexibility occurs through rapid reallocation of resources to new or changing needs.  Resource flexibility, on the other hand, results from having people who can do many different things in different ways.

Finishing Class     

Use Case Study 2: How a Strategy Change Led to Nike’s Formation to generate a discussion of who is ultimately responsible for formulating strategy. See the solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to reinforce learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Ask students to respond to a Discussion Question to present to the class the following week.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

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Provide each student with a sticky note and ask them to write down anything that was unclear to them in class, or if there are any unanswered questions. Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading      

Baron, J.N., & Kreps, D.M. (1999). Consistent human resource practices. California Management Review, 41(3), 29–53.

Bowen, D.E., & Ostroff, C. (2004). Understanding HRM-Firm performance linkages: The role of the ‗strength‘ of the HRM system. Academy of Management Review, 29(2), 203– 221.

Kotter, J. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 50–67.

Pfeffer, J. (2005). Seven practices of successful organizations. In W.L. French, C.H. Bell, & R.A. Zawacki (Eds.). Organizational Development and Transformation: Managing Effective Change. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 460–479.

Sheehan, N.T. (2006). Understanding how resources and capabilities affect performance: Actively applying the resource-based view in the classroom. Journal of Management Education, 30(3), 421–430.

Ulrich, D. (1991). Using human resources for competitive advantage. In R. Kilmann, I. Kilmann, and Associates (Eds.). Making Organizations Competitive. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. As you have learned, substitutes can be an opportunity or a threat. The smartphone is a great example of a new product that eliminated the need for many other products. In groups, develop a list of the products that the smartphone has replaced. Students may generate some of the following: Kindle e-reader; daily newspaper; pocket digital camera (via built-in camera); holga film camera (via Instagram, ToyCamera app); pocket foreign language dictionaries; scanner (via Genius Scan); bank ATMs (via USAA‘s app, which allows deposits via snapshot); GPS device; road maps / printouts from Mapquest and Google Maps; reporter‘s notebook (I find tapping out notes isn‘t any slower than writing them); voice recorder; handwritten grocery lists (via DropBox-syncing Plaintext); Nintendo DS; iPod; radio (via NPR app / Hype Machine / iTunes / Spotify / Pandora); paper comics (via Comixology); set-top box remote (via the Roku app); paper receipt file (via EZ receipts), among others. Emphasize that often the biggest opportunity or threat in an industry is not from direct competition but from buyers substituting other products.

Hence, firms may need to adjust their employee skill bases to support different technologies, or they may need to think about how they will compete in different ways.

2. What external forces influence the future of community colleges and universities? List these xxxii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

and discuss the implications for the demand for faculty. These environmental forces include the following: economic factors, including general, regional, and global conditions; industry and competitive trends, including new processes, services, and innovations; technological changes, including information technology, innovations, and automation; government and legislative issues, including laws and administrative rulings; social concerns, including child care, elder care, the environment, and educational priorities; demographic and labour market trends, including age, composition, and literacy. Each one of these has an impact on the demand for faculty. For instance, technological changes increase the demand for faculty, as lifelong learning is necessary; on the other hand, technological changes have introduced online courses, which reduce the demand for faculty. Similar arguments can be made for many of the factors listed.

3. Think about an organization that you know well. Place the employees of this organization into the following categories: strategic knowledge workers; core employees; supporting workers; and partners and complementary skills workers. Strategic knowledge workers tend to have unique skills that are directly linked to the company‘s strategy and are difficult to replace; they typically are engaged in knowledge work that involves considerable autonomy and discretion. Core employees have skills that are quite valuable to a company, but are not particularly unique or difficult to replace. Supporting workers typically have skills that are of less strategic value to the firm and are generally available in the labour market. Partners and complementary skills have skills that are unique, but frequently are not directly related to a company‘s core strategy. An excellent answer would showcase understanding of these four types of employees.

4. Shopify and Tim Hortons are both Canadian success stories. From websites and news articles, try to articulate and compare their corporate strategies. Student answers should tackle (a) which market each competes within (domain selection); (2) against whom each competes; (3) how they compete in their own market. They should also respond to (4) whether each is in a period of growth and/or diversification, and if they do diversify, how is each responding to the ―make-or-buy‖ question. Finally, students should discuss the extent to which each has engaged in (5) M&As, and (6) strategic alliances and joint ventures. Students may also discuss (7) the business strategy adopted by each, tackling whether they believe each takes a low-cost or unique value-added approach. If this assignment is given as a team assignment that is graded and forms part of the student‘s summative evaluation, instructors should provide students with detailed instructions.

5. During the semester in which you are enrolled in this course, there will be news about an organization needing to reduce the workforce by thousands of employees. What are the options? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option? Supply considerations involve determining where and how candidates with the required qualifications can be found to fill a firm‘s vacancies.

Advantages

Disadvantages

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Restrict hiring

Reduce work hours

Layoffs

Attrition

Early retirement

Allows the organization to retain a skilled workforce and lessens the financial and emotional impact of a full layoff, and at the same time reduces the costs of production Allows the organization to retain a skilled workforce and lessens the financial and emotional impact of a full layoff, and at the same time reduces the costs of production Remove full layers of a hierarchy at once; quick

Allows the organization to retain a skilled workforce and lessens the financial and emotional impact of a full layoff Wage bill will go down, as more senior individuals are normally paid more; makes room for younger employees to grow

Slow

Employees may not be satisfied with this option, as they may not earn a sufficient amount to pay for their own cost of living.

Often decisions are based on seniority or ability. If seniority, more competent people may be laid off versus less competent; it may have a detrimental effect on women who have less seniority.

Slow

May lose the talent and memory of older workers; bottom-heavy hierarchy may mean a loss of leadership

6. Imagine that you are president of the HR student association at your school. You want to measure the success of the association during your term. What metrics would you use?

What benchmarks would you use? In order to evaluate my performance, I need to establish a set of parameters that focus on the ―desired outcomes‖ of my strategic planning, as well as the metrics I will use to monitor how well the association delivers against those outcomes. My metrics may include the number of events held by the association, the number of students who register and attend the events, the level of student satisfaction with the events, the number of students who go to our website, the number of members, the number of external organizations that support the HR association, and so on. I would use other student associations as benchmarks (e.g., accounting student association), or an HR association at another university.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Domino’s Tries to Get Its Strategic Recipe Right 1. Explain how Domino’s strategy differed from its competitors. Domino‘s initial success came about because it provided a unique, value-added dimension to customers that, at the time, no one else was providing—pizzas delivered to customers‘ homes in under 30 minutes. It differed from its competitors because rather than relying on quality, customer experience, or even price, it relied on the speediness of service. However, more recently, competitors have replicated this part of Domino‘s strategy, such that they are no xxxiv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

longer unique. From the case, it appears that its competitors were not only making and delivering pizza in about the same amount of time as Domino‘s, but they were also making better-tasting pizza, or pizza at a lower cost. Currently, Domino‘s strategy is evolving as its products have diversified; it now offers in-room dining, it has increased the quality and taste of its pizza, it offers a number of unique ―technological innovations‖ to engage customers, and there is clearly a focus on training management in order to reduce turnover.

Whether it differs so drastically from its competitors today is less clear from the case. The technological innovations that it offers to entice employees and customers may be unique—but not for very long, as technology is easier to reproduce by competitors. What is less ―reproducible‖ is the culture that Domino‘s (might be/is) creating through its focus on people management, or at the least, the management of management staff. If it wants to have a long-term sustainable competitive advantage, Domino‘s may be wise to focus not only on managers (its core workers, seemingly), but also employees (supporting workers).

At this point, it may be useful to bring up HRM architecture in a class discussion.

2. Has the firm been able to achieve a long-term strategic fit between its strategy and HR practices in your opinion? Why or why not? A long-term strategic fit between strategy and HR practices assumes that strategy will not change over the long term. This is highly unlikely. A better question is whether the organization, HR, and the workforce are flexible enough to continually progress and succeed into the future. The HR practices designed for management staff are likely to meet with success in aligning the objectives of managers with that of the organization (i.e., rewards tied to store performance). On the other hand, the answer to this question may be ―no.‖ This is because the supporting workers—the employees who could just as easily work at McDonald‘s, Wendy‘s, or Starbucks—are not valued to the same extent as management. They are underpaid, and in the eyes of many employees, this is equivalent to being undervalued. When people feel undervalued, they are likely to quit when a better opportunity arises, neglect their work duties when possible, and even engage in deviant behaviours to harm the organization or its stakeholders.

Case Study 2: How a Strategy Change Led to Nike’s Formation 1.

Who is ultimately responsible for formulating a firm’s strategy—its managers, employees, or both? Management is ultimately responsible for formulating strategy, but they use input from employees. Therefore, students could argue that both are responsible.

2. What strategy execution problems do you think Knight and Bowerman might have faced in their effort to make Nike successful? Students could suggest a variety of problems, such as the lack of financial resources, finding a manufacturer, and making Onitsuka into a rival.

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Chapter 3: Equity and Diversity in Human Resources Management If nothing else, my students should learn that… 



There are four main pieces of legislation in Canada that relate to equity and diversity: The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian Human Rights Act, Pay Equity, and The Employment Equity Act, and although it is illegal to discriminate on a number of grounds, the four main designated groups in Canada are women, Aboriginal people, visible minorities, and people with disabilities.

The management of diversity goes beyond equity legislation; workplace diversity can be voluntarily embraced and leveraged as a source of competitive advantage.

Learning outcomes 1.

2.

3.

4.

Explain the reasons for equity-related legislation.

Identify the legal framework, including the Charter and human rights legislation.

Describe pay equity and strategies for implementing it.

Discuss the Employment Equity Act with respect to its origins, its purpose, its continued enforcement, and the implementation of employment equity in organizations.

5. Discuss sexual harassment as an employment equity issue.

6. Explain and give examples of diversity management.

Why is this chapter important?

Managers and human resource professionals are expected to manage employees in ways that comply with and respect the laws and regulations of Canada. Canada is one of the most diverse countries in the world—a kaleidoscope of cultures, languages, and nationalities consisting of more than 250 different ethnic groups. The workplace must not only reflect this reality but also accommodate this diversity. Employment equity is not just the absence of discrimination, but the proactive programs to ensure that the organization‘s workforce is representative of the population. This chapter emphasizes the legislation governing employment equity, and describes the organizational response to this legislation. Today, compliance with employment equity involves managing diversity with the goal of utilizing fully the organization‘s human capital.

Why should students care?

In the field of HRM, perhaps no topic has received more attention in recent decades than employment equity. Employment equity, or the treatment of employed individuals in a fair and nonbiased manner, has attracted the attention of the media, the courts, practitioners, and legislators. It is important to know that managers (and employees) cannot do whatever they want at work, without suffering consequences. The consequences range from criminal charges, costly and time-consuming litigation, negative publicity for the organization, and a decrease in organizational morale and commitment. Therefore, following the laws and regulations is just good business.

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What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

 



Play ―culture bingo.‖ Create a bingo chart (a 5 × 5 matrix), and in each cell, put either ―born in X country‖ or ―visited X country‖ or ―can speak X language‖ or ―can name all continents,‖ and so on. Inform students that they need to find individuals in the room who fit into one of the cells. The first student to fill five cells in a row or diagonally wins! Show students how multicultural the class is, and ask them the implications for working in teams, for instance.

If the class is relatively small, ask students in advance of class to bring a small dish of food that best represents their country of origin. Eat potluck and share your culture!

Randomly divide the class in two. Provide a nearly identical résumé to each student. Half of the résumés should have a male name (e.g., Michael Smith), and the other half a female name (Michelle Smith). Ask students to rate the prospective applicant along a number of dimensions, including leadership, negotiations, ability to take charge, and the like.

Determine whether students rated the female versus male candidate differently. You can collect the data in advance of class, or use clickers to see the results instantaneously in class. Discuss the implications of gender stereotypes in class.

Read Highlights in HRM 3.2: Accessibility, and ask students whether they know the answer to the multiple-choice question about how to respond to a blind person who is applying for an interview. Use clickers, or ask for a show of hands, regarding which option is the best.

Explain that there is training available through Ontario‘s new mandatory accessibility standard that came into force for private organizations in 2012. Impress upon students that there is much to learn in this class on equity and diversity. 

Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 1 to generate a small group discussion on the myths of diversity. Here are some myths about employment equity: • It leads to hiring unqualified workers.

• It causes an overnight change in the workforce makeup.

• It is a plan that would make Calgary’s workforce look like Toronto’s.

• This program lays off white males to make room for designated group members.

• It is a program mainly for racial minorities.

• Employers who implement the plan can destroy hard-won seniority provisions that protect all workers.

• It is the end of hiring for white males.

In groups, determine if group members share these beliefs. As HR professionals, how would you work with employees who hold these beliefs? See recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Employment Equity xxxvii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Equity, by definition, means fairness or impartiality. In a legal sense, it means justice based on the concepts of ethics and fairness. The federal Employment Equity Act recognizes four designated groups of Canadian workers: women, Aboriginal peoples, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities.

 Connectivity Activity: Use HRM Experience: Your Opinions about Employment Equity.

(1) Status of Designated Groups 1. Women  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to comment on Highlights in HRM 3.1: Retention Strategies. Ask students whether organizations are doing enough to address barriers that inhibit the advancement for women.  Team Assignment: Use Discussion Question 3 as the basis for a team assignment: Find a male class job (i.e., a job in which the majority of workers are male) and a female class job that seem to require similar educational background and technical skills. (For example, compare female-dominated police dispatchers with maledominated radio technical supervisors or female-dominated health technicians with male-dominated transportation workers.) Then, using an Internet salary compensation index, calculate the pay rates. Are there differences? How would you account for these differences? See recommended responses in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions.

2. Aboriginal People  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Review Case Study 2: Outreach Efforts to learn how Manitoba Hydro is innovative with its employment equity programs especially geared to Aboriginal peoples. See recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

3. People with Disabilities  Think-Pair-Share: Provide students with a copy of Figure 3.1: Representation of Designated Groups in the Labour Force, or put it on your slide deck or prezi presentation. Ask students what this figure means, and if they would hire someone with a disability. People with disabilities face attitudinal barriers, physical demands that are unrelated to the actual job requirements, and inadequate access to the technical and human support systems that would make productive employment possible. About 70 percent of disabled people need some kind of workplace accommodation, and in 80 percent of cases, the cost is less than $500. Why is there such aversion to hiring disabled people?  Think-Pair-Share: In an open discussion, ask students whether hiring a disabled person generates more costs to an organization, and, if so, what are those costs? Probe students to give examples of any experiences they might have had working with a disabled individual. Do any students have disabled parents? Develop some insight about any perceptions about the work ethic of disabled employees. Do they work as hard as able-bodied employees? Or do they expect a lighter load? Research, in fact,

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shows that disabled people are just as motivated and perform just as well as their nondisabled counterparts (e.g., Ren, Paetzold, & Collela, 2008).

Small Group Activity: State instructions and expectations for a small group activity (5–6 students). Response should be done on PowerPoint if all groups have laptops; limit the number of slides (5–8). In each small group, ask students to brainstorm and generate all the reasons why they should hire a disabled employee, and all the reasons why they should not hire a disabled individual. As a group, develop a few overheads to list the advantages and disadvantages of hiring disabled individuals, and to uncover any bias the exercise exposed in the group. How do you change organizational culture to be more inclusive of the disabled?

Members of Visible Minorities  Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 3.3: What’s in a Name? to see how Metropolis, an immigration and diversity research network, demonstrated that if an applicant‘s name sounded foreign, then he or she has less of a chance of getting a job interview, although that person‘s credentials would be identical to other individuals with English-sounding names.

• Debate: Provide students with Ethics in HRM: Ethics: Equality or Equity to learn how the federal government ran advertisements that specifically requested that minorities ―only‖ apply. Half of the students should be assigned to argue that this is a form of reverse discrimination and should be illegal. The other half should take the position that this is justified to right the balances of discriminated groups. Get students into smaller groups before the debate with others who have their same position in the debate. Give them time to generate some ideas to support their own side. In the debrief, focus on the rationales provided by students.

• Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 5 to generate small group discussion on the impact of age discrimination. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

(2) Benefits of Employment Equity   

Employment equity makes good business sense and it helps to avoid costly human rights complaints.

It broadens the base of qualified individuals for employment, training, and promotions.

It is an enhanced means to attract and retain the best-qualified employees with resulting greater access to a broader base of knowledge, skills, and an improved corporate image of diverse interests in the community.

The Legal Framework (1) The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The Constitution Act of 1982, which contains the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is the cornerstone of equity legislation. The Charter guarantees fundamental rights to every Canadian.  Call-Out Question: Ask students to discuss their expectations of how these fundamental rights impact on the management of organizations, and their opinions on

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whether individuals or groups, such as organizations, should have the governing rights to these fundamental freedoms.

(2) The Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) 



Prohibited grounds of discrimination include race, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, physical handicap, and marital status. See Figure 3.2: Prohibited Grounds of Discrimination in Canada for a comparative listing of prohibited grounds across all Canadian jurisdictions.

Employers are permitted to discriminate only if the employment preference is based on a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ), which is a justifiable reason for discrimination based on business reasons of safety or effectiveness. 





Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to identify an example of a bona fide occupational qualification that they have been aware of in HR practices of employment, promotion, or layoff, which they felt was justified by business requirements. Alternatively, use Discussion Question 4 as a basis for this think-pair share: List as many jobs as you can in which you could hire only male applicants, based on a BFOQ. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Clickers: Generate multiple-choice questions based on Figure 3.2 to demonstrate to students the grounds upon which an employer cannot discriminate, as well as the complexity in working for an organization with offices across Canada. Students tend to be quite surprised by some of the provincial laws!

Case Study: Get students into groups and ask them to respond to Case Study 1: Fighting Fires. Recommended solutions to the questions are found in Notes for End-ofChapter Case Studies.

Pay Equity Pay equity, an amendment in 1978 to the Canadian Human Rights Act, makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against individuals on the basis of job content. The primary goal of pay equity is to eliminate the historical wage gap between men and women. By definition, pay equity means equal pay for work of equal value. There are two principles: pay equality (male and female workers must be paid the same wage for doing identical work), and equal pay (equal pay for work of comparable worth). 



Group Discussion Question: Ask student groups to discuss their experiences with pay equity. Have any students experienced, or been aware of personally, situations where there was not pay equity for identical or similar work roles? How do they feel about the pay inequities that exist? Are they ever justifiable?

Making Real-World Links: Statistics Canada provides information regarding the number of professors and average salary of professors who are employed, by rank, across Canada (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710010801).

Put these statistics in a chart to show that there are far fewer women who hold full professorships, but a nearly equivalent number who hold assistant professorships. Then, show how for each rank, men earn slightly more than women professors. Ask students for some possible reasons for this finding. An additional/alternative option is to collect xl Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

 

your own data from your department, faculty, or business school (as long as it is sufficiently large), and graphically depict the number of male versus female professors by rank.

Group Assignment: Outside of class, ask students to compute the above graphs using Statistics Canada data found online, and provide a short written commentary.

Think-Pair-Share: Have students generate reasons why women should make less income than men, and why women should make more income than men. Should women make more income than men for a few years, a decade, or a generation to right the imbalances that have occurred in the past? Would this be a form of reverse discrimination?

The Employment Equity Act (1995) Employers and Crown corporations with 100 employees or more that are regulated under the Canada Labour Code must implement employment equity and report on their results.

The Implementation of Employment Equity in Organizations Successful implementation of an employment equity program will incorporate strategic planning into the overall business strategy. The implementation process involves six steps: 1. senior management commitment 2. data collection and analysis 3. employment systems review 4. establishment of a workplan 5. implementation 6. evaluation, monitoring, and revision  Think-Pair-Share: Have students review Highlights in HRM 3.4: Requirements for the Federal Contractors Program for the steps required to ensure employment equity via the Federal Contractor‘s program.  Group Exercise: Divide the class into groups so that there is at least one group per step in the equity implementation process. Assign each group to one step. Use Case Study 3: Women on the Right Track at CP Rail, and ask each group to evaluate their activities in light of their assigned step. For instance, one group may be assigned the step ‗Senior Management Commitment.‘ This group could spend time looking at their notes/textbook and evaluating whether there was senior management commitment at CP Rail, and whether more was necessary (e.g., the case mentions senior female involvement, not senior male involvement). Ask students to present a description of each step and how it relates to this mini-case. This will encourage collaborative learning. See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Step 1: Senior Management Commitment

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Senior management must place the responsibility for employment equity in the hands of a senior manager, a joint labour–management committee, and an employment equity advisory committee with mechanisms for union consultation. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Go to monster.ca to find jobs related to diversity (e.g., diversity consultant, diversity trainer, manager of diversity, etc.) to demonstrate to students that organizations are increasingly hiring senior-level staff to focus on diversity issues; many students fail to realize that such jobs exist!

Step 2: Data Collection and Analysis Profiles of the internal workforce are required to determine where the organization stands in terms of internal and external workforce distributions.  Stock data shows the status of designated groups in occupational categories and compensation levels.  Flow data provides a profile of the employment decisions affecting designated groups.

Flow data indicates the distribution and movement of designated groups in all aspects of the employment process—applications, interviews, hiring decisions, training and promotion opportunities, and terminations.  Confidentiality and a clear commitment at senior levels to the concept of employment equity are crucial to creating a climate of trust in the management of the program.  Self-identification of employees as members of a designated group must be voluntary.  Providing focused employment equity training to managers and recognition of management contributions to these programs will help to encourage participation and confidence in the program. 



Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to consider the ramifications of requiring compulsory identification of membership in a designated group in an organization. What are the difficulties in asking for voluntary self-identification? How could the data reported misrepresent the organization and its employee membership?

Call-Out Question: Draw from Highlights in HRM 3.5: Suggestions for Inclusion. Ask students what they think they should do when they work with ―a person who is blind‖ and ―a person who is deaf.‖ Some ideas for respectful and appropriate behaviour are found in Highlights in HRM 3.5.

All information from the self-identification forms are cross-referenced to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) manual created by Statistics Canada for use in statistical analysis.  Underutilization is a term applied to designated groups that are not utilized or represented in the employer‘s workforce proportional to their numbers in the labour market.  Concentration is a term applied to designated groups whose numbers in a particular occupation or level are high relative to their numbers in the labour market.

Step 3: Employment Systems Review xlii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Systemic Barriers in Employment Practices  

Systemic discrimination is the exclusion of members of certain groups through the application of employment policies or practices based on criteria that are not job related.

Example: Employers post job vacancies internally within an organization or rely on word of mouth to fill vacancies, as this recruitment strategy is likely to produce similar candidates to those in the organization‘s workforce. An approach that includes outside recruitment would encourage less systemic discrimination. 

In-Class Group Discussion: With students formed into small groups, ask each group to identify one example of a possible systemic barrier from their own workplace experiences. Ask students to perform the test for identifying systemic barriers provided in the text and to report on their test results to the rest of the students, or to prepare a group report. If the group identifies that a systemic barrier does in fact exist, also ask them to provide some suggestions for special measures to correct the imbalances in organizations.

Special Measures and Reasonable Accommodation   

Special measures are initiatives designed to accelerate the entry, development, and promotion of members of designated groups from among the interested and qualified workforce.

Accommodation of the special needs of employees is considered reasonable as long as it does not cause ―undue hardship to the employer.‖ Reasonable accommodation is an attempt by employers to adjust the working conditions or schedules of employees with disabilities or religious preferences. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Review precedent-setting cases in Canada in Highlights in HRM 3.6: The Duty to Accommodate.

Step 4: Establishment of a Workplan 

The workforce analysis and the review of the employment systems will provide the employer with a useful base from which to develop a workplan.

Step 5: Implementation  

Strategy implementation must be customized to the needs, circumstances, and individuals within each organization.

It becomes a ―living document,‖ modified as needed to reflect changes to the internal and external environment.

Step 6: Evaluation, Monitoring, and Revision  

Annual progress reports provided to employees communicate initiatives and achievements.

Interim reports on special projects heighten program visibility and acceptance, as well as promote management commitment and accountability.

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Only through monitoring can an employer determine whether goals are being attained and problems resolved, whether new programs are succeeding, and whether strategies have been effective.

Sexual Harassment Many of the prescriptions for sexual harassment in this section are also applicable to other forms of harassment, like that for race or religion. Sexual harassment is the unwelcome advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature in the working environment. 

  

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Pre-Class Assignment: Ask students to find out whether their university or college has a sexual harassment policy for students. Invite them to bring it to class and then evaluate it using Highlights in HRM 3.8: Basic Components of an Effective Sexual Harassment Policy.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Review Highlights in HRM 3.7: The Cost of Sexual Harassment, and note the size of awards given to victims.

Pre-Class Work: Request that students bring in a newspaper or magazine article highlighting an issue of sexual harassment for class discussion.

Case Study: There is a very engaging case study published by Harvard Business Review called ―The Case of Hidden Harassment.‖ You can download the case, and teaching notes, and use them in class. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Small Group Activity: Use Discussion Question 6 to generate small group discussions on harassment. See recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Managing Diversity Diversity management is the optimization of an organization‘s multicultural workforce in order to reach business objectives. Managing diversity is a broader, more inclusive concept, which encompasses factors such as religion, personality, lifestyle, and education. Diversity management is voluntary, whereas employment equity is not voluntary.

Creating an Environment for Success 

  

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Review The Business Case: The Economic Values of Diversity as an example of the benefits of having a diverse workforce.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Read Reality Check: Diversity Management Achievements at RBC to see how RBC manages diversity.

See Figure 3.4: Why Diversity? to determine the primary reasons that business will incorporate diversity into their business strategies.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 2 as the basis for this think-pairshare: Although the process for filing a complaint of discrimination appears clear, many would choose not to do so. List the reasons alleged ―victims‖ of

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discrimination in employment might not file a complaint. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Finishing Class     

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Class discussion: Bring copies of the Small Business Application to class. After students read it, ask them to list how small businesses achieve a diverse and inclusive workforce, and the extent to which it is different for small versus large organizations.

Case Study: Get students into groups working on Case Study 3: Women on the Right Track at CP Rail. Ask students to present to one another in class. Recommended solutions are found in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students a provocative question, such as: Is it harder to be a woman in an organization than a man? If the developed world still has not sorted out employment equity, how long will it take for developing nations? Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading     

Amoroso, L.M., Lloyd, D.L., & Hoobler, J.M. (2010). The diversity education dilemma: Exposing status hierarchies without reinforcing them. Journal of Management Education, 34(6), 795–822.

Bell, M., Ozbilgin, M.F., Beauregard, T., Surgevil, O. (2011). Voice, silence, and diversity in 21st century organizations: Strategies for inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees. Human Resource Management, 50(1), 131–146.

Niven, D., Wang, C., Rowe, M.P., Mikiko, T., Vladeck, J.P., & Chester, G.L. (1992). The case of hidden harassment. Harvard Business Review, 70(2), 12–23.

Ren, L. R., Paetzold, R. L., & Colella, A. (2008). A meta-analysis of experimental studies on the effects of disability on human resource judgments. Human Resource Management Review, 18(3), 191–203.

Thomas, D. (2004). Diversity as strategy. Harvard Business Review, 82(9), 98–108.

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Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Here are some myths about employment equity: It leads to hiring unqualified workers; It causes an overnight change in the workforce makeup; It is a plan that would make Calgary’s workforce look like Toronto’s; This program lays off white males to make room for designated group members; It is a program mainly for racial minorities; Employers who implement the plan can destroy hard-won seniority provisions that protect all workers; It is the end of hiring for white males. In groups, determine if group members share these beliefs. As HR professionals, how would you work with employees who hold these beliefs? The instructor should ensure that students are aware of evidence that strongly suggests that these are myths, and not based in empirical evidence. How should HR (or anyone) work with those who hold such beliefs? It is important that employees are trained not only in what is ―legally‖ required, but also in how to leverage and manage diversity in the workplace.

Organizations can also consider using compensation strategies to encourage people to put systems into place to meet those ends. Motivation, rather than punishment, is most likely the best way to encourage people to value diversity in the organization. That said, if there is misconduct (e.g., harassment), then HRM needs to initiate disciplinary measures.

2. Although the process for filing a complaint of discrimination appears clear, many would choose not to do so. List the reasons alleged ―victims‖ of discrimination in employment might not file a complaint. There are numerous reasons that range from not wanting to be ostracized from the group, to who the harasser is (if it‘s the boss, its probably less likely to be filed), whether it can be easily ―proven,‖ embarrassment, not wanting to be seen as sensitive, etc. Students will likely have more ideas.

3. Find a male class job (i.e., a job in which the majority of workers are male) and a female class job that seem to require similar educational background and technical skills. (For example, compare female-dominated police dispatchers with maledominated radio technical supervisors or female-dominated health technicians with male-dominated transportation workers.) Then, using an Internet salary compensation index, calculate the pay rates. Are there differences? How would you account for these differences? This would be an excellent group assignment.

4. List as many jobs as you can in which you could hire only male applicants, based on a BFOQ. Male clothing designers can legally advertise for male models only; a male-only university dormitory can hire only male resident advisors.

5. Have you ever encountered questions such as the following? ―Do you really think you could handle this job? You know it takes a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Besides, we are looking for someone with career potential.‖ ―You don’t need this training program. At your age, what would the benefit be?‖ ―Well, you are getting on. What do you expect at your age?‖ Such comments reflect ageism—an attitude that makes assumptions about older persons and their abilities and puts labels on them. About 15 xlvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

percent of Canada’s workforce is 55 and over. They are often stereotyped and not hired or promoted. Using what you have learned in this chapter about hiring and accommodating the four designated groups, design a recruitment and retention program for older workers. The Institute for Community Inclusion provides a quick document on how to recruit and retain older workers: https://www.communityinclusion.org/article.php?article_id=231.

6. Have each member of your group complete the survey below. Discuss the findings.

Clarify any misunderstanding with them in class. You may also discuss how some of the items may vary by national and corporate culture. For instance, a male employee complimenting the looks of a female employee is considered inappropriate in Canada; however, it is considered appropriate in southern European countries.

7. Describe how an organization can make best use of a multicultural workforce.

Diversity initiatives should be linked directly to the business objectives of the most senior levels of management. It needs to be strategic, in that diversity is not an ―afterthought‖ or ―unintended side-effect‖ but something that is strategically aligned to the organization‘s efforts, both internally (culturally) and also externally (in their brand to the market).

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Fighting Fires 1. Did the standards result in safer and more effective firefighting crews, or were they inadvertently keeping women out of a traditionally male job? As evidenced by the subsequent court ruling, the standards were inadvertently keeping women out of this traditional male job.

2. Was this a BFOQ? The ministry was challenged on the basis of sex discrimination. What did the Supreme Court rule, and what was its reasoning? No, this was not a BFOQ. The standards were deemed unrelated to the job.

3. Female applicants had the chance to train and try the test at B.C. university campuses.

Was this special preparation discriminatory? This is open for discussion, and it will provide lively debate if done in class.

4. Did the changes made fix the underlying problems? Explain. Be sure your tests and performance standards are validated and shown to relate to on-the-job performance.

Other suggestions would include ensuring clarity on BFOQ‘s and the nature of systemic discrimination.

Case Study 2: Outreach Efforts 1. What are the reasons cited by the companies for wanting to hire Aboriginal people? They

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care about the Aboriginal population, both as customers and employers. SaskTel‘s call centre can offer service in three different First Nations languages. The rationale is not just social justice, but one focused on economic growth. The most obvious reason would be to relieve the shortage of workers, but there are other benefits to hiring Aboriginal people: (a) Talent and skills are available: Recent data also suggest that roughly 50 percent of Aboriginal people aged 25 to 64 were postsecondary graduates, 14 percent had a trade credential, 21 percent had a college diploma, 4 percent had a university diploma or certificate, and 10 percent had a university degree. (b) Support systems exist, linking businesses with qualified Aboriginal workers. (c) Programs are available to offset training costs for Aboriginal employees. The types of training programs will vary by region and community. To find what resources are available in your area, consult hrsdcrhdsc.gc.ca/aboriginal. (d) Employees of a different cultural background bring a fresh perspective and increase levels of comfort for Aboriginal customers.

2. Of the three initiatives described, which do you think will be most successful to achieve these objectives? Why? The three initiatives described are: (1) pre-employment training at Manitoba Hydro; (2) 2-week on-the-job experience at Potash in Saskatchewan; (3) First Nations people‘s own two-day workshop. Manitoba Hydro‘s program will likely be the most successful. This is because it focuses on the job (like Potash), and on issues related to First Nations (like First Nations own two-day workshop). It is akin to an apprenticeship program, which would provide specific, on-the-job training to apprentices that would enable them to be successful on the job. They also have workshops to help First Nations people cope with being away from home, and are reaching out to the community in their encouragement of young girls entering occupations such as engineering.

Case Study 3: Women on the Right Track at CP Rail 1. Compare CP Rail’s initiatives to advance women with the recommended six-step program for the implementation of employment equity. The six steps are: (1) senior management commitment (senior women appear to be committed); (2) data collection and analysis; (3) employment systems review; (4) establishment of a workplan (CP rail departments have diversity goals); (5) implementation (mentorship programs; networking opportunities); and (6) evaluation, monitoring, and revision (keep track of progression, e.g., women in senior management has doubled in five years). There are many other activities the organization could engage in to meet its needs. The case says nothing about the support from the CEO (although one might glean from the case that the CEO is supportive, given the resources are dedicated to these activities); the case says nothing about whether majority groups (e.g., able-bodied white men) are supportive of the diversity initiative, whether there are systematic barriers to entry, or just progression, and whether both have been identified and examined.

2. Review the list in Highlights in HRM 3.1 (retention strategies). What more could CP Rail undertake? The case does not include flexible schedules, 40-hour work weeks, part-time, job sharing, or focus on the family.

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Chapter 4: Job Analysis and Work Design If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Job analysis is the cornerstone of numerous HRM functions, including recruitment, selection, training and development, and compensation; job analysis is also the first step in creating jobs that are motivational for people.

Teams are a mainstay of job design in most contemporary organizations, and hence it is important to understand a team‘s mandate, and how to design jobs so that jobholders are mutually accountable to one another, and skills are complementary.

Learning outcomes 1. Explain job analysis and how it is used in conjunction with a firm‘s HRM functions.

2. Explain how the information for a job analysis typically is collected and incorporated into various sections of a job‘s description.

3. Provide examples illustrating the various factors that must be taken into account in designing a job, including what motivates employees.

4. Describe the different group techniques and types of work schedules used to broaden a firm‘s job functions and maximize employee contributions.

Why is this chapter important?     

It discusses how jobs can be designed so as to best contribute to the objectives of the organization and at the same time satisfy the needs of the employees who are to perform them.

The duties and responsibilities present in jobs greatly influence employee productivity, job satisfaction, and employment retention.

Job requirements provide the foundation for making objective and legally defensible decisions in managing human resources.

Job design and employee contribution techniques can increase job satisfaction while improving organizational performance.

Teamwork and the characteristics of successful teams are highlighted in this chapter.

Teams are used in most organizational contexts today, so understanding them from an HRM perspective is of paramount importance.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

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Getting started 

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In advance of class, ask students to bring a job description (either their own from their current job, or one on the Internet). Alternatively, bring a variety of job descriptions to class (found on the Internet). Ask students, in groups, to think about how the job descriptions were developed. Who developed them? How were they developed?

Link back to the previous chapter on diversity. Write ―diversity‖ on the board. Then, ask students what the intended benefits of diversity are, and jot those down on the board to the right of the word ―diversity.‖ Possible answers might include higher productivity, more creative products, a more satisfied workforce, and so on. Then, stand back from the board and ask whether there is necessarily a direct link between diversity and those positive outcomes. Provide an analogy of an office with a diverse workforce, but where each employee sits in a small cubicle and does not speak to other employees. Will the benefits of diversity be gained? Absolutely not! We need to design work in such a way as to generate the benefits of diversity.

Create a ―What‘s Your Job Analysis IQ‖ test using multiple-choice or True or False questions from the test bank. Provide students with the responses throughout the lecture as you reach the solution to each question.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: As outlined in The Business Case: Purolator and NBANH Reduce Skyrocketing Costs, job analysis has financial implications and could cause workplace problems if handled poorly.

Relationship of Job Requirements and HRM Functions Job analysis is the cornerstone of HRM because the information it collects serves many HR functions. Therefore, students should fully understand the process of job analysis and how it influences the other HR functions. This section covers how job analysis relates to strategic HR planning, recruitment, selection, training and development, performance appraisals, compensation management, and legal compliance. 

Small Group Discussion: Assign small groups an HRM function (e.g., recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, etc.), and ask them to think about how job analysis is the cornerstone of this activity. Ask students to present in class. Warning: If your students are inexperienced, this may be too tricky for them, given that you have yet to cover these topics in any detail. In this case, you may want to give them a pre-class assignment to perform in pairs or groups. Have groups present to one another.

Job Analysis 

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Job analysis is the process of obtaining information about jobs by determining the duties, tasks, or activities of jobs. A job is an activity people do for which they get paid, particularly as part of the trade or occupation they occupy. A workflow analysis helps a firm determine the best processes, types, and mix of jobs, and how they should ideally be organized to execute the firm‘s mission.

In-Class Activity: Draw Figure 4.2: The Process of Job Analysis, but do not include any words, and make printouts for students. Tell students what should be written in each section and ensure that they understand the relationship between the collection of job l Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

analysis information and the development of job descriptions and job specifications from these data.

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Reality Check: Job Analysis at EDS Canada Inc. to identify some of the strategic choices made by EDS concerning job analyses.

Gathering Job Information Explain that job analysts collect job information in a number of different ways. Job analysis is usually performed by someone from the HR department. This individual works closely with managers and employees in the collection of job data. The most common methods are interviewing, questionnaires, observations, and diaries. 

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Think-Pair-Share: After reviewing the different methods of conducting the job analysis, ask the class to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each method and list these on the board.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: If possible, invite a job analyst from an organization to speak as a guest lecturer.

Controlling the Accuracy of Job Information Care must be taken to ensure that all of the important facts are included and that employees do not exaggerate the functions of their jobs to have their jobs rated more highly in order to inflate their status and paycheques. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Ethics in HRM: Job Inflation to consider how ethics play a part in contributing to the input for job analysis.

NOC and Job Analysis Explain that the National Occupational Code (NOC) contains standardized and comprehensive descriptions of about 25 000 occupational titles. 

Pre-Class Exercise: Ask students to explore the National Occupational Code by visiting the NOC website at http://noc.esdc.gc.ca/English/home.aspx and find their ―dream‖ job; bring it to class, or put it up for discussion on the class online discussion board.

Approaches to Job Analysis (a) The Position Analysis Questionnaire System The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) covers 194 different tasks that determine the degree to which different tasks are involved in performing a particular job.

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: Direct students to Figure 4.3: Job Analysis Interview, which shows a sample page from the PAQ covering 10 elements of the Information Input Division.

(b) The Critical Incident Method The critical incident method involves the identification of job tasks that are essential for job success. Review the example of the reference librarian provided in the narrative of the textbook. 

Connectivity Activity: The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology has a fun and engaging experiential exercise posted on one of its blogs for conducting a job analysis using the critical incident technique for the role of professor. See http://siopwiki.wikifoundry.com/page/Personnel+Psychology.

(c) Task Inventory Analysis Task inventory analysis is an organization-specific list (tailor-made) of tasks and their descriptions used as a basis to identify components of jobs. (d) Functional Job Analysis The functional job analysis (FJA) approach utilizes an inventory of the various types of work activities that can constitute any job. Each job function is assigned a percentage in terms of its importance to the job. (e) Competency-Based Analysis The traditional approach to job analysis assumes a static job environment in which jobs remain relatively stable, apart from incumbents who might hold these jobs. With competency-based analysis, a job can be meaningfully defined in terms of tasks, duties, processes, and skills necessary for job success. (f) HRIS and Job Analysis Software programs exist to perform job analysis. Generally, these programs contain generalized task statements that can apply to many different jobs.

Job Descriptions A job description is a written description of a job and the types of duties it includes. 

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Small Group Discussion: Ask students to consider the jobs they have had in the past or present, and whether they were ever given a job description. What problems are created when an employee either does not have a job description, or has one that is not accurate? Have students generate as many issues as possible related to efficient operations, communication, behavioural concerns, and so forth.

Small Group Discussion: In each small group, ask students to generate all the reasons why an employee should insist on an accurate job description and all the reasons why an employer is protected with an accurate job description. Then, ask whether it is

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possible for job descriptions to be comprehensive and to cover everything an employee does on the job.   

Stress that job descriptions are valuable for both employees and employers.

Explain that there is no standard format for job descriptions.

Most job descriptions will contain four typical sections, including job title, job identification, job duties, and job specification.  

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Refer students to Highlights in HRM 4.1: Job Description for Talent Acquisition Assistant for an example of a job description.

Call-Out Question: Point out that job descriptions are not very interesting to many students and are often perceived as unimportant. Emphasize to students how lawsuits have been won on the basis of poor job descriptions, and that they need to make every effort to have an accurate one. Ask students to consider whether they should convince their employer to update a job description if it is inaccurate.

Problems with Job Descriptions Managers consider job descriptions a valuable tool for performing HRM functions, but several problems are frequently associated with them:  If they are poorly written, using vague rather than specific terms, they provide little guidance to the jobholder.  They are sometimes not updated as job duties or specifications change.  They may violate the law by containing specifications not related to job success.  They can limit the scope of activities of the jobholder, reducing organizational flexibility. 

Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 3 as a basis for a discussion: The description of the ―administrative assistant‖ position often varies across organizations.

Search the Internet for a few of these job descriptions and compare them. How can this ―problem‖ be solved? See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Writing Clear and Specific Job Descriptions  

Job descriptions should be written in statements that are terse, direct, and simply worded.

The sentences describing job duties normally begin with a present-tense verb—for example, ―maintains,‖ ―supervises,‖ ―coordinates,‖ ―operates,‖ or ―performs.‖ Job descriptions must comply with the legal requirements. 

Connectivity Activity: Ask students to develop a job description for the job of ―student‖ at your university or college using the interview method. Ask students to interview one another, and to develop a list of duties and job specifications. Have them present the ideas to one another in class. Ask students to suggest how this information could be used to help prospective students at your university, and how it might also help administrators select students for courses. Ask students whether they believe that a liii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

student who meets all of the requirements on the job description will perform well at university. These types of questions might help students see the link between job analysis and other HRM activities.

Job Design Use Figure 4.4: Basis for Job Design to show that job design is a consideration of (1) the organizational objectives that the job was created to fulfill; (2) behavioural concerns that influence an employee‘s job satisfaction; (3) industrial engineering considerations; and (4) ergonomic concerns. The organizational objective considerations of job design are to improve efficiency and employee job satisfaction.

Behavioural Concerns  Herzberg‘s job enrichment is any effort that makes work more rewarding or satisfying by adding more meaningful tasks to an employee‘s job.  Hackman and Oldham‘s job characteristics model proposes that three psychological states of a jobholder result in improved work performance, internal motivation, and lower absenteeism and turnover: (1) experienced meaningfulness of the work performed, (2) experienced responsibility for work outcomes, and (3) has knowledge of the results of the work performed. These three psychological states are elicited by five core job dimensions: 1. Skill variety 2. Task identity 3. Task significance 4. Autonomy 5. Feedback 

Explain to students that the job characteristics model may not be applicable to all employees. Employees may resist job redesign if they do not have the skills and abilities to perform more complex jobs. Also, employees must have the psychological desire to want the autonomy, variety, responsibility, and challenge of enriched jobs. 

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Class Outing: Ask students to either think about, or actually go to the closest Tim Hortons, Starbucks, or Second Cup. Ask them to observe the jobholders, and to evaluate their jobs based on the five job characteristics.

Connectivity Activity: Find the job characteristics survey (Hackman and Oldham, 1974) via your online library system. Insert the word ―student‖ for the word ―employee,‖ and ask students to rate the motivating potential of their job as a student.

Alternatively, if most of your students are employed, ask them to complete the survey in light of their current job.

Connectivity Activity: Use Huber and Lee‘s (1988) experiential exercise on job design. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Employee empowerment, a less structured method than the two above, allows employees to initiate their own job changes. It means involving employees in their work through the process

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of inclusion. Job crafting is a naturally occurring phenomenon whereby employees mold their tasks to fit their individual strengths, passions, and motives better.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: see Highlights in HRM 4.2: Empowered Employees Achieve Results for some examples of how businesses are empowering employees.

Industrial Engineering Considerations  Industrial engineering is a field of study concerned with analyzing work methods and establishing time standards.  Time study is the important process of developing time standards. Explain how stopwatch and work sampling techniques are performed. 

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Connectivity Activity: As a class exercise, use a stopwatch to time students performing a simple task, for example, placing pegs in a pegboard using tweezers or stacking checkers in piles of five. Then, ask students what they believe to be the advantages and disadvantages of industrial engineering and to mention jobs they feel are monotonous and boring to perform. Identify those jobs that are characterized by overspecialization.

Individual Essay/Class Discussion: Use Discussion Question 4 as a basis for discussion: Explain how industrial engineering and behavioural considerations can both clash with and complement each other in the design of jobs. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Ergonomic Considerations  Ergonomics is the study of people at work and the practice of matching the features of products and jobs to human capabilities, preferences, and the limitations of those who are to perform a job.  A substantial number of work injuries occur yearly due to bending, lifting, or typing.

Ergonomics are employed by organizations to reduce or eliminate these employee injuries. 

Connectivity Activity: Use some of the questions in Figure 4.5: Computer Workstation Ergonomics Checklist to ask students‘ about their current ergonomic status. What are the long-term implications if they are forced to sit in that position for long periods of time?

Designing Work for Groups and Teams 

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Call-Out Question: Describe the types of teams you have worked with. Were some more successful than others? If so, why? How might what you have learned from being a team member be applied in an HR context?

Organizations can satisfy the intrinsic needs of employees while increasing productivity by organizing employees into groups. Through groups, employee collaboration is increased and synergy is developed.

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Newspapers, magazine articles, and special reports discuss the many actual examples of employee involvement groups and teams. Use these to demonstrate the various types of employee groups.

Group Activity: Assign students to small groups and have them complete HRM Experience: Establishing Ground Rules for Team Success.

Employee Involvement Groups Employee involvement groups (EIGs) are groups of employees who meet to resolve problems or offer suggestions for organizational improvement. These are also known as quality circles (QCs).  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Figure 4.6: The Dynamics of Employee Involvement Groups to explain how EIGs function.  Connectivity Activity: Ask students to think about their own experiences of working in teams for class projects. What made them great? Why did they fail to meet your expectations? What is different in a university setting versus an employment setting?

How might instructors (or managers) ensure that students (or employees) work effectively in groups?

Employee Teams Employee teams are an employee contributions technique whereby work functions are structured for groups rather than for individuals, and team members are given discretion in matters traditionally considered management prerogatives, such as process improvements, product or service development, and individual work assignments. 

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Call-Out Question: Employee teams are widely used by all types of organizations. This is true in both the public and private sectors and among large, medium, and small organizations. Ask students to identify organizations they know about that employ teams to achieve organizational improvement. Figure 4.8: Forms of Employee Teams describes the most popular types of employee teams. Ask students what types of teams they have been involved with.

Call-Out Question: To begin the discussion on teams, use a sports analogy to consider whether a team is made up of self-serving individuals or ones who are devoted to the team structure. Do basketball players in the NBA play for themselves, for the team, or both?

Call-Out Question: Ask students what is meant by team synergy. Emphasize that not all teams develop or acquire synergy. Rather, team synergy develops when team members practise positive behaviours. Figure 4.7: Synergistic Team Characteristics discusses the factors that contribute to enhancing synergy.

Self-directed work teams (also known as autonomous work groups, self-managed teams, or high-performance teams) are the highest form of team structure because the team is accountable for the entire work process or segment that delivers a product or service to an internal or external customer.

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Virtual teams have widely dispersed members linked together through computer and telecommunications technology. Explain how they differ from traditional teams. 

Connectivity Activity: Use Clark and Gibb‘s (2006) experiential exercise on virtual teams. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

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Case Study: Use Case Study 3: The Zappos Experiment as the basis for a group case study. See the recommended responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Flexible Work Schedules  

Flexible work schedules are not a true part of job design because job tasks and responsibilities are not changed.

Jobs can also be designed around the hours by which they are performed. The more common alternative work schedules include the following: 1. The compressed workweek shortens the number of days worked per week by lengthening the number of hours worked each day.

2. Flextime is referred to as flexible working hours that permit employees the option of choosing daily starting and quitting times, provided that they work a set number of hours per day or week. Flextime schedules include a ―core‖ period when all employees are required to be at work.

3. Job sharing is an arrangement whereby two part-time employees perform a job that otherwise would be held by one full-time employee.

4. Telecommuting is the use of personal computers, networks, and other communications technology to do work in the home that is traditionally done in the workplace. Numerous organizations have some sort of telecommuting program. 

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Small Group Discussion: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting to the individual employee and to the organization. What additional burdens are placed on the supervisors? Figure 4.9: Keys for Successful Telecommuting lists and discusses six specific recommendations for managing a successful telecommuting program.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 4.3: Flextime and Work– Life Balance.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Highlights in HRM 4.3: Flextime and Work–Life Balance as the basis for this think-pair-share. Ask students how flextime can help employees achieve work–life balance.

Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Yahoo Cuts the Cord on Telecommuting as a basis for a group discussion. See the recommended responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Finishing Class  

Ask students to explore the National Occupational Code and finding their ―dream‖ job; ask students to post their dream job description on the class discussion board.

Review the learning objectives.

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Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students a provocative question, such as Discussion Question 7: An argument could be advanced that some job design methods, including those involving industrial engineering, have led to employees being ―deskilled‖ and ―alienated from their work.‖ Debate this issue. Use this as a basis for debate on the online discussion board for your class.

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics.

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Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading    

Clark, D.N., & Gibb, J.L. (2006). Virtual team learning: An introductory study team exercise. Journal of Management Education, 30(6), 765–787.

Flanagan, J.C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4), pp. 327–358.

Huber, V.L., & Lee, T.S. (1988). Job design: The Airplane Assembly Exercise. Journal of Management Education, 12, 80–90.

Shantz, A., Alfes, K., & Truss, C. (2012). Alienation from work: Marxist ideologies and 21st century practice. International Journal of Human Resource Management.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Why is job analysis often described as the ―bedrock‖ of HRM practices? In your answer, explain how job analysis helps with HRM practices such as recruitment, selection, compensation, and performance appraisals. Recruitment: Qualifications are contained in the notices of job openings and provide a basis for attracting qualified applicants and discouraging unqualified ones. Selection: Minimum requirements (education and/or experience) for screening applicants; interview questions; selection tests/instruments (e.g., written tests; oral tests; job simulations); applicant appraisal/evaluation forms; orientation materials for applicants/new hires. Compensation: Determines skill levels, which then determines salary range; compensable job factors; work environment (e.g., hazards; attention; physical effort); responsibilities (e.g., fiscal; supervisory); required level of education (indirectly related to salary level). Performance appraisals: Set goals and objectives; set performance standards and evaluation criteria; determine length of probationary periods; duties to be evaluated.

2. Discuss the various methods by which job analysis can be completed. Compare these methods, noting the pros and cons of each. The textbook discusses the common approaches to performing job analysis. These include interviews, questionnaires, observations, diaries, functional job analysis, the position analysis questionnaire, and the critical incident method. While all job analysis techniques are subjective to some degree, those using quantitative approaches (PAQ) are often viewed as more valid by the Human Rights Commissions. Techniques such as personal questionnaires, interviews, and observations are highly subject to bias and subjectivity.

3. The description of the ―administrative assistant‖ position often varies across organizations. Search the Internet for a few of these job descriptions and compare them.

How can this ―problem‖ be solved? This is not necessarily a problem per se, given that job descriptions can vary by organization, depending on the organization‘s culture, product lix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

line, services, and so on. It may cause problems, however, if the pay is not commensurate with the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the job position or jobholder.

4. Explain how industrial engineering and behavioural considerations can both clash with and complement each other in the design of jobs. Industrial engineering is based on analyzing and designing jobs around specific work cycles and time standards. Industrial engineers may design jobs for improved efficiency and simplicity, but neglect different human considerations. Ergonomics, with its concern for matching human characteristics with job demands, might provide jobs that are not as efficient (according to industrial engineering standards), but may facilitate human requirements and facilitate employee job satisfaction. When both industrial engineering and ergonomists work together, the benefits of both disciplines combine to produce efficient and satisfying jobs.

5. The job characteristics model has five components that enhance employee jobs: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Give an example illustrating how each component can be used to improve the organization and the job of the employee. (Suggestion: Consider your present or a recent job to answer this question.)

The job characteristics model can enrich employee jobs in the following ways: Skill variety: Allows employees to use more of their abilities, such as problem solving, speaking, writing, or interpersonal skills, to improve their involvement in work. Task identity: An employee is given a complete, natural unit of work to accomplish. For example, an insurance agent can be allowed to complete all aspects of selling, servicing, and problem solving an individual insurance policy. Task significance: Grants additional authority or responsibility to an employee. For example, employees can be allowed to grant refunds to customers without supervisory approval. Autonomy: Employees are permitted to complete work at home. An employee is given a job to do without instruction on how to complete the task. Feedback: Make periodic reports directly available to the worker rather than to the supervisor.

6. Figure 4.8 shows the different forms of employee teams. Provide an example of where each type of team can be used. How do teams create synergy? This question can be used as a point for class discussion. Its purpose is to acquaint students with the different forms of teams and where they can effectively be used. Teams create synergy when team members share and use their combined abilities and talents to complete an assigned project or job.

Synergistic team characteristics include support, listening and clarification, disagreement, consensus, acceptance, and quality.

7. An argument could be advanced that some job design methods, including those involving industrial engineering, have led to employees being ―deskilled‖ and ―alienated from their work.‖ Debate this issue. First define alienation from work as the separation of the self from the work that is done on the job. Refer to Shantz et al. (2012) for a recent discussion

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and empirical work on alienation. Bring up certain occupations, such as call centre workers, and how their work might or might not be alienating.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Yahoo Cuts the Cord on Telecommuting 1. How can a firm know when it’s a good idea to implement telecommuting or not? Use Figure 4.9: Keys for Successful Telecommuting to respond to this question. For instance, a firm needs to evaluate whether its jobs are suitable for distance work, whether its employees are responsible, and so forth. Firms should also seriously reflect on whether telecommuting is an advantage if the firms value creativity, teamwork, and organizational learning.

2. Can you think of any other pros and cons related to telecommuting that aren’t mentioned in this case? Advantages of telecommuting: (a) increased flexibility for employees—better work–life balance; (b) reduced absenteeism; (c) retention of valued employees who might otherwise quit; (d) reduced ―carbon footprints‖ through minimizing daily commuting; (e) increased productivity (e.g., reduced wasted office time); (f) lower overhead costs and reduced office space. Potential problems: (a) no management oversight, so potential for employees to ―goof off‖ or take more time off than permissible; (b) lost synergy in teams, and therefore potential for lost organizational learning and creativity; the difficulty of developing appropriate performance standards and evaluation systems for telecommuters, and the need to formulate an appropriate technology strategy for allocating the necessary equipment; (c) employers wishing to have their employees telecommute must comply with wage and hour laws, liability and workers‘ compensation regulations, equipment purchase or rental agreements with employees, and all employment equity regulations (see Chapter 3); (d) employees who are denied the opportunity to work from home may feel discriminated against and resent home telecommuters.

Case Study 2: But My Job Has Changed 1. Given the facts of this case, is it possible for Brenda and Martin to reach a satisfactory result? Explain. Yes, Brenda can sit down with Martin to discuss her duties and responsibilities, what duties stayed the same, and what duties changed from her previous job description.

2. How could an organization identify and measure the personal competencies of employees?

Martin should have a discussion with Brenda defining what competencies are required to do the job, and how these competencies tie in with the goals and objectives of the organization.

3. How could the company prevent this problem from occurring in the future? Explain.

Ensure the job description is accurate by discussing the duties and responsibilities, and the procedures of how the job is done.

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Case Study 3: The Zappos Experiment 1. Is a self-managing organization a good idea? Why or why not? Students‘ answers may vary. Some may say that a self-managing organization can grow in a unique way that benefits the organization. Others will say that a managed organization is safer, more predictable, and has a better chance of success.

2. Could Zappos have done anything to make the transition to the new system smoother? If so, what? Some students may say that a transition team could have prepared the people better by managing expectations, training employees, and assisting former managers.

Chapter 5: Expanding the Talent Pool: Recruitment and Careers If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Organizations recruit both externally and internally, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, recruitment provides organizations with an opportunity to showcase their brand name to employees and customers alike.

People typically do not spend their entire career in one organization. Hence, managing one‘s career has taken on new importance in today‘s marketplace.

Learning outcomes 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Describe how a firm‘s strategy affects its recruiting efforts.

Outline the methods by which firms recruit internally.

Outline the methods by which firms recruit externally.

Explain the techniques organizations can use to improve their recruiting efforts.

Explain how career management programs integrate the needs of individual employees and their organizations.

Why should students care?

Increased competition for talent means that recruiting has acquired new importance for managers. Today, many jobs require higher skill levels, and managers can no longer rely solely on unsolicited applications to fill these positions. To stay apace of their competitors and expand their operations around the world, companies also have to look globally for workers. It is therefore essential that organizations do a good job of broadening their pools of talent—the number and kinds of people able to contribute to the success of the organization, and the variety of ways in which they recruit and retain them. Moreover, this chapter discusses career management—something that students should know a lot about, given that they will likely enter the workforce in just a few years‘ time. Students will learn how to develop mentorship relationships, network for success, and manage their own career.

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Why is this chapter important?

This chapter discusses strategies and techniques that organizations use both internally and externally to recruit the talent they need. For example, to find ways to reach out to and recruit the right kinds of candidates, some companies develop employee profiles by surveying their top performers about what they like to do, what events they attend, and how they like to be contacted and recruited. They then pursue candidates using this information. The chapter also covers approaches that organizations take toward career management over time. This is important because, unlike physical assets, human assets (employees) can decide to leave the firm of their own accord. The Internet has helped make workers better informed about opportunities, and allowed them to telecommute or work off-site. As a result, rival firms are in a better position to lure good employees away.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

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Ask students to consider the jobs they have had in the past or present, and recall what the process was for getting the job. How much effort did students exert in finding work? How much effort did the employer exert in finding the students as future employees? Have students consider the costs associated with their job search, and also their recruitment.

Ask students to read over the ―working here‖ section of the McDonald‘s website: mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca/careers/working-here.html; ask students whether they would like to work for McDonald‘s before and after reading this information. See whether they were persuaded by McDonald‘s employee value proposition.

Use clickers and create a multiple-choice quiz to assess students‘ current knowledge of recruitment practices.

Case Study: Download the Harvard Business Review Case (plus commentaries) entitled ―Why Doesn‘t This HR Department Get Any Respect?‖ (https://hbr.org/1998/03/whydoesnt-this-hr-department-get-any-respect). The case is about Luke Robinson, managing partner of human resources (HR) at a fictional company named Loft Securities, who has tried many avenues to change his department‘s reputation as an administrative backwater.

It focuses on a number of HRM issues, including recruitment and talent management. See Recommended Reading for the reference.

Strategic Aspects of Recruiting Who should do the recruiting?

It depends on the size of the organization:  Most large firms have full-time, in-house HR recruiters.  In smaller organizations, an HR generalist might do the recruiting. lxiii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Organizations sometimes outsource their recruitment process, also known as recruiting process outsourcing.

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Debate: Ask students to take a ―pro recruitment outsourcing‖ or a ―con recruitment outsourcing‖ position. Ask them to generate arguments for their assigned side, and then pair up with someone who has prepared with the opposite position. Take up the answers on the board to ensure the following information has been learned.

Should a firm recruit internally or externally?  Benefits of internal recruitment include rewarding employees for past performance, providing motivation to other employees to observe that hard work is rewarded, broadening employees‘ work experience, and eliminating orientation and training costs.  Potential limitations of recruiting internally include ―inbreeding‖ of ideas and attitudes— the risk of employee cloning. Hiring applicants with specialized skills that often bring revenue as well as knowledge (e.g., salespeople, doctors, lawyers), and reaching diversity goals may necessitate external recruitment.

Labour Markets  During periods of high unemployment, organizations might be able to maintain an adequate supply of qualified applicants from unsolicited résumés and internal labour markets.  In a tight labour market, employers may have to advertise heavily and/or seek assistance from local employment agencies. 

Call-Out Question: Ask students to identify different occupations for which the labour market is currently tight or loose. Ask students to consider how recruitment might differ depending on the market.

Regional and Global Labour Markets  Call-Out Question: Ask students whether they have ever noticed that competing firms are often located in the same areas. Oil and gas companies are plentiful in the Calgary area. Film and television companies are clustered around Toronto and Vancouver. This is not a coincidence. The clustering occurs because the resources these firms need— both human and natural—are located in some areas and not others. 

In addition, companies are engaging in global sourcing, the practice of searching for and utilizing goods sourced from around the world in order to develop better products via a global workforce and to attract the best talent.

Branding  Branding refers to a company‘s efforts to help existing and prospective workers understand why it is a desirable place to work.  How does a company ―burnish‖ its employment brand? lxiv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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It can think of applicants as consumers and focus on what they want in terms of jobs and careers as opposed to what an organization has to ―sell‖ them.

Reach out via social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

Write blogs and articles for industry publications.

Create online games.

Philanthropic activities can reach many applicants who are looking for more than just a paycheque.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Highlights in HRM 5.1: Marriott’s Recruitment Principles: Living Up to the Employment Brand shows how the hotel chain has been able to establish its brand as an employer of choice by engaging in good recruiting practices.

Small Group Project: Ask students to find examples of ―employee value propositions‖ from various organizations on the Internet. Ask students to bring them to class to share with their colleagues.

Connectivity Activity: Introduce the concept of ―employee value proposition‖ (not in the textbook), and bring some examples to class (e.g., Google). State the employee value proposition, and then see whether students can guess which organization it belongs to.

Case Study: Use Case Study 2: Recruitment Channels as a basis for class discussion.

See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Recruiting Internally Organizations use the following techniques to identify qualified candidates: 1. Internal Job Postings 

Call-Out Question: Ask students to describe job postings where they work. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this internal recruitment technique?

2. Identifying Talent through Performance Appraisals 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Figure 5.1: An Example of a 9-Box Grid, which helps a manager assess and appraise information related to an employee‘s actual and potential performance.

3. Skills Inventories and Replacement Charts: See Chapter 2 for definitions of each. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Some signs that the firm needs to work harder at grooming internal talent are shown in Figure 5.2: Warning Signs of a Weak Talent Bench.

Recruiting Externally 

Connectivity Activity: Assign students to small groups, and assign each group one external recruitment method. Ask the group to respond to the following questions: lxv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

(1) Under what condition(s) would an organization use this recruitment method?

(2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of this method? Take this up on the board, or ask students to present their ideas to one another.

Advertisements Examples include websites, trade journals, help-wanted signs, billboards, Craigslist, social networking sites, email campaigns, Twitter, and text messages.  Advantages: Advertisements reach a large audience of possible applicants.  Disadvantages: Advertisements require creativity in terms of developing the design and message content. Also, many unqualified applicants apply.

Walk-ins and Unsolicited Applications and Résumés  Advantages: As an unexpected source of employees, these methods are still valuable enough not to be ignored.  Disadvantages: The prospect of good candidates is not high.

The Internet, Social Networking, and Mobile Recruiting  Looking on the Internet is the most commonly used search tactic by job seekers and recruiters.  Both companies and applicants find the Internet to be cheaper, faster, and potentially more effective than other methods of finding each other.  Niche job boards are useful for finding specialized applicants or applicants in a specific industry.  Recruiters use big data and software to find qualified applicants. 

Disadvantages of using social networks: There are costs involved that a recruiter might not necessarily think about, such as branding a Facebook campaign, or employing a part-time social media manager to maintain the company‘s online presence; another drawback of using social media as a recruiting tool is that some groups of people are underrepresented online. For example, people who have a disability are less likely to go online.

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Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 3 as a basis for a small group discussion: Companies are finding candidates through searches of LinkedIn profiles.

They also use LinkedIn and other social media to screen candidates. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using social media as a recruitment channel. See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

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Individual or Group Assignment: Ask students to interview one or two current job seekers to discover the extent to which they use social media to look for jobs, and whether they actively manage their online profile in order to attract employers. What are the upsides and downsides for job candidates in having social media presence? This

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can also be a point of discussion. Instructors may wish to read the article ―You‘ve Been Tagged‖ by Smith and Kidder (2010). See Recommended Reading for a full reference. 

Case Study: Use the Harvard Business Review Case entitled ―We Googled You‖ to discuss the challenges that job seekers may face now that organizations search on social media for applicants. See the full reference in Recommended Reading.

Job Fairs  Advantages: Job fairs are a good way to cast a wide net for diverse applicants in a certain region.  Disadvantages: Many applicants who attend job fairs might not be qualified. As well, they only attract applicants in the regional area in which they are held.

Employee Referrals  Advantages: The quality of employee-referred applicants is normally quite high, since employees are generally hesitant to recommend individuals who might not perform well; they tend to remain with the organization longer as well.  Disadvantages: Employee referrals include the possibility of corporate inbreeding, systemic discrimination, and nepotism. 



Making Explicit Real-World Links: Highlights in HRM 5.2: Employee Referral Programs That Work shows some additional ways that firms can encourage employee referrals.

Use Case Study 3: Get Paid for an Employee Referral as a basis for discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of employee referrals. See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Rerecruiting  Rerecruiting is the process of keeping track of and maintaining relationships with former employees to see if they would be willing to return to the firm.  Advantages: Rerecruiting reduces the cost of retraining, orientation, and understanding the organization‘s culture.  Disadvantages: Employees may feel ―hard done by‖ if their position was made redundant by the organization.

Executive Search Firms  Advantages: This type of search brings in new ideas into an organization when there is a need for change and the organization currently cannot make it happen.  Disadvantages: Internally placed CEOs will outperform externally placed CEOs, and often the executive search firm is criticized for selling the ―Superman‖ qualities of outside CEOs, which comes at a high cost to an organization.

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Educational Institutions  Advantages: Educational institutions are a significant source of young, inexperienced applicants who can be influenced by the organizational culture to become good employees.  Disadvantages: Some employers fail because of poor recruitment programs that do not maintain a planned and continuing effort on a long-term basis. Some recruiters sent to college campuses are not sufficiently trained or prepared to talk to interested candidates about career opportunities or the requirements of specific openings. Some organizations visit too many campuses and therefore dilute their recruiting efforts. 

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

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Figure 5.3: Steps for Strengthening a Firm’s On-Campus Recruiting Relationships. Why not ask students whether they have any additional ideas?

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Highlights in HRM 5.3: Making Your Internship Program a Success shows steps companies can take to ensure truly successful internships.

Class Discussion: Ask the class whether anyone has completed an internship before.

Ask students to share their experiences. Compare students‘ experiences with Highlights in HRM 5.3: Making Your Internship Program a Success to evaluate the internship and determine if the organization can do anything to improve the internship program.

Professional Associations  Advantages: Certain professions, like engineers, have professional associations to help their members find jobs. This is more efficient for potential employees because all the jobs will be related to their field, and also for employers who can be guaranteed of the quality of potential applicants. There is usually no fee to the applicant.  Disadvantages: There might be too much homogeneity in the membership belonging to a professional association, which might limit the effectiveness of an external placement when innovation and creativity are what is needed.

Labour Unions  Advantages: Labour unions might applaud the posting of jobs and they would be careful to apply the protocols in collective agreements.  Disadvantages: Labour unions might be suspicious of management‘s request to post job applications and not cooperate fully unless a healthy union–management relationship exists.

Public Employment Agencies Each province maintains an employment agency that administers its employment insurance program.  Advantages: Public employment agencies match unemployed applicants with job openings, and assist employers with employment testing, job analysis, evaluation programs, and community wage surveys.

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Disadvantages: As with any government office, due to the bureaucracy of such agencies, the timeliness and effectiveness of these programs do not match the long-term employment needs of the applicants, but instead are a short-term solution for a greater systemic problem of unemployment.

Private Employment and Temporary Agencies  Charging a fee enables private employment agencies to tailor their services to the specific needs of their clients; hence they tend to serve a specific occupation.  Advantages: These agencies focus on a certain type of client and develop specialization in finding CEOs or university presidents, for example.  Disadvantages: Not all recruiters are good, and they might encourage job seekers to accept jobs for which they are not suited, so job seekers would be wise to take the time to find a recruiter who is knowledgeable, experienced, and professional.

Employee Leasing Employee leasing by professional employer organizations (PEOs) involves taking over the management of a smaller company‘s HR tasks and becoming a co-employer to its employees, and in return being paid a placement fee of normally 4 to 8 percent of payroll cost plus 9 to 20 percent of gross wages.

Improving the Effectiveness of Recruiting 

Pre-Class Assignment: Ask students to interview someone who manages others at work. They should ask this person what methods he or she has most successfully used to recruit employees. In class, students share their findings. Does the recruiting source seem to depend upon the type of job?

(1) Using Realistic Job Previews A realistic job preview (RJP) informs applicants about all aspects of the job, including both its desirable and undesirable facets. In contrast, a typical job preview presents the job in only positive terms. 

Debate: Use Discussion Question 4 to debate the pros and cons of a realistic job preview: Explain how RJPs operate. Why do they appear to be an effective recruitment technique? See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

(2) Surveys  

Survey managers and new hires about how satisfied they are with the process.

Candidates who turn down jobs often can provide valuable information about why they did not accept the firm‘s offer.

(3) Recruiting Metrics

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Quality-of-Fill Statistics  See Chapter 2: Appendix: Calculating Turnover and Absenteeism.  Firms have attempted to develop a quality-of-fill statistic they can use to improve their recruiting processes. The textbook provides a way of calculating an annual quality-of-fill metric for an organization.

Time to Fill  The time-to-fill metric refers to the number of days from when a job opening is approved to the date the person ultimately chosen for the job is selected.  Figure 5.4: Time-to-Fill Calculations shows an example of how the time-to-fill metric is calculated.

Yield Ratios  Yield ratios help indicate which recruitment sources are most effective at producing qualified job candidates.  A yield ratio is the percentage of applicants from a particular source that make it to the next stage in the selection process.

Costs of Recruitment  The average source cost per hire (SC/H) can be determined by a formula that is found in the textbook.  The applicant tracking system (ATS) is a system recruiters use to post job openings, screen résumés and uploaded profiles, contact via email potential candidates for interviews, and track the time, costs, and other metrics related to hiring people.

Retention: How Do We Keep Our Talent? 

Leadership is the key reason for turnover. Supervisors have to demonstrate interest in and empathy toward their employees and help their employees grow and develop.

Career Management: Developing Talent over Time 

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Reflection Paper: Ask students to read Peter Drucker‘s classic paper in the Harvard Business Review called ―Managing Oneself,‖ and to reflect on their own career in one page. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Call-Out Question: Why should both employees and employers be concerned about career management programs?

The Goal: Matching Individual and Organizational Needs  A career development program should be viewed as a dynamic process that matches the needs of the organization with the needs of employees. Each party has a distinctive role to play. The textbook outlines the employee‘s role, the organization‘s role, and their blended roles.

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Use Figure 5.5: HR’s Role in Career Management to illustrate how HR structures relate to some of the essential aspects of the career management process.

Use Figure 5.6: Blending the Needs of Individual Employees with the Needs of Their Organizations to show that the organization‘s goals and needs should be linked with the individual career needs of its employees in a way that improves the effectiveness of workers and their satisfaction, as well as achieving the firm‘s strategic objectives.

Identifying Career Opportunities and Requirements Those who direct career management in the organization have to watch the needs and requirements of the organization. This involves an analysis of the competencies required for jobs, progression among related jobs, and supply of ready (and potential) talent available to fill those jobs. (a) Begin with a Competency Analysis Organizations should study their jobs carefully to identify and assign weights to the knowledge and skills that each one requires. (b) Identify Job Progressions and Career Paths  Plan job progressions, the hierarchy of jobs a new employee might experience, ranging from a starting job to jobs that successively require more knowledge and/or skill.  Job progressions then can serve as a basis for developing career paths—the lines of advancement within an organization—for individuals. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Figure 5.7: Typical Line of Advancement in HR Management to illustrate a typical line of advancement in the human resources area of a large multinational corporation.

(c) Track Career Stages  To begin the discussion on generations, ask students whether their behaviour would change in the class if their parents were sitting in on it.  Class Discussion: Career stages are outlined in the book (the typical age range and the major tasks of each stage are also discussed). Direct students to Figure 5.8: Stages of Career Development. Ask students to identify their own career stage, and that of their parents. 

• 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Reality Check: Career Edge Making a Difference outlines how Career Edge helps people in this stage find their first job.

Class Discussion: Determine some of the ways that different generational groups are discriminated against. Consider the type of strategy that would be necessary to bring cohesion and communication to the generational groups.

Think-Pair-Share: Have students determine the advantages and disadvantages of having different generations working together within an organization. Is this type of lxxi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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diversity within the workforce easy to manage? What policies need to be in place in order for all generations to have a positive work experience?

Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Imprimax as a platform to discuss intergenerational conflict. See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

(d) Recognize Different Career Paths  An individual‘s career advancement can move along several different paths via promotions, transfers, demotions, and exiting the organization.  Consider dual career paths for employees.  Consider the boundaryless career.  Help employees progress beyond career plateaus. A career plateau is a situation in which, for either organizational or personal reasons, the probability of moving up the career ladder is low.  Consider the provision of sabbaticals. A sabbatical is an extended period of time in which an employee leaves an organization to pursue other activities and later returns to his or her job. Sabbaticals can help prevent employee burnout and increase a person‘s loyalty to a company.

Career Development Initiatives The textbook outlines successful career management practices. It also provides a list of internal barriers that inhibit employees‘ career advancement. 

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: Supporting career development activities can help the organization achieve retention and productivity goals as outlined in The Business Case: The Value of Career Development Programs.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Ethics in HRM: Unpaid Internships: Training or Exploitation? as a basis for this think-pair-share. Ask students to share their experiences with unpaid internships, and to ask whether organizations who use them are getting away with unpaid labour by exploiting the fact that the graduates are desperate to find employment.

Mentoring Executives and managers who coach, advise, and encourage employees are called mentors.

Reverse mentoring is a program whereby younger employees are called on to mentor older employees and executives about social media trends, new technology, and marketplace trends.

Informal mentoring occurs as well.  Clickers: Use Figure 5.9: Top 10 Myths about Mentors to develop a set of True or False questions on mentoring. Use clickers to test students‘ knowledge of mentoring.

Networking Career networking is the process of establishing mutually beneficial relationships with other businesspeople, including potential clients and customers. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn.com connect professionals in formal and informal ways as well.

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Finishing Class 

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Use Discussion Question 5 to bring some of the learning points together. Ask students to get into small groups and generate some ideas: The Ottawa Police Services recognized that traditional recruiting practices may not work in a multicultural society. New immigrants may not view policing as an honourable profession, based on their previous experiences.

Sitting in large groups hearing about opportunities in the police force is not effective, as many are reluctant to ask questions. Newcomers also do not know about the ―ride along‖ program that most forces operate as a way to introduce potential recruits to the daily work of a police officer. Design a recruitment campaign for the police force that would be sensitive to the perceptions and needs of a multicultural candidate base.

Review the learning objectives.

Leave students with the following question, and then use it as a basis for online discussion: Is the achievement of a multi-generational workforce a type of diversity management? Can the management of the four designated groups benefit from these ideas?

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Small Business Application: Small Companies Often Offer Big Rewards as the basis for this think-pair-share. After they read the information, ask students to discuss whether they would prefer to find a job at a small or a large organization.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading    

Coutu, D., Palfrey, J. G., Joerres, J.A., Boyd, D.M., & Fertik, M. (2007). We Googled You. Harvard Business Review, 85(6), 37–47.

Drucker, P.F. (2005). Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review, 83(1), 100–109.

Galford, R. (1998). Why doesn‘t this HR department get any respect? Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 24–26.

Teaching Notes for the HBR Case, Why Doesn’t This HR Department Get Any Respect? o Brockbank, W. (1998). What Is the Best Advice Rose Can Give Robinson?

Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 38–40. o Wall, J. (1998). What Is the Best Advice Rose Can Give Robinson? Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 36–38. o Riley, T. (1998). What Is the Best Advice Rose Can Give Robinson? Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 34–36. o Lawler III, E.E. (1998). What Is the Best Advice Rose Can Give Robinson?

Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 32–34. o Broedling, L. (1998). What Is the Best Advice Rose Can Give Robinson?

Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 28–32. lxxiii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

 

Payne, S.L., & Holmes, B. (1998). Communication challenges for management faculty involving younger ―Generation X‖ students in their classes. Journal of Management Education, 22(3), 344–364.

Smith, W., & Kidder, D. You‘ve been tagged! (Then again, maybe not): Employers and Facebook. Business Horizons [serial online]. September 2010; 53(5): 491–499. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Name some companies with whom you have done business. Then discuss how you view their employer brands. Would you want to work for them or not? How might these firms improve their employer brands? Students may suggest that a brand designed for the public is not the same as one designed for an employee.

2. More than 50 percent of all MBAs leave their first employer within five years. Although the change may mean career growth for these individuals, it represents a loss to the employers.

What are some of the probable reasons a person with an MBA would leave his or her first employer? Insufficient training and development opportunities; bad manager; inflexible hours; not interesting work; insufficient feedback; plateau in learning.

3. Companies are finding candidates through searches of LinkedIn profiles. They also use LinkedIn and other social media to screen candidates. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using social media as a recruitment channel. Social media is the most commonly used search tactic by job seekers and recruiters. Both companies and applicants find the approach cheap, fast, and effective. There are costs involved that a recruiter might not necessarily think about, such as branding a Facebook campaign, or employing a parttime social media manager to maintain the company‘s online presence. Another potential drawback of using social media is that some groups of people are less likely to be ―wired.‖ 4. Explain how RJPs operate. Why do they appear to be an effective recruitment technique?

The purpose of a realistic job preview (RJP) is to provide job applicants with information concerning all aspects of the job. The job‘s good and bad points are discussed, along with full knowledge of job duties and responsibilities. An RJP may include a job tour showing the work environment. According to research studies, RJPs are an effective recruitment technique because they (1) improve job satisfaction, (2) enhance an employee‘s desire to stay with the job, (3) improve employee/employer communication, and (4) establish realistic job expectations.

5. The Ottawa Police Services recognized that traditional recruiting practices may not work in a multicultural society. New immigrants may not view policing as an honourable profession, based on their previous experiences. Sitting in large groups hearing about opportunities in the police force is not effective, as many are reluctant to ask questions.

Newcomers also do not know about the ―ride along‖ program that most forces operate as a way to introduce potential recruits to the daily work of a police officer. Design a recruitment campaign for the police force that would be sensitive to the perceptions and

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needs of a multicultural candidate base. This question gives students an opportunity to design a recruitment campaign for the police force based on their research. This question can be used as an individual or group assignment.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Imprimax 1. Identify five probable causes as to why young new hires are leaving the company.

Authoritative management style; nepotism leads to perceptions of unfairness; change (e.g., rapid growth of employee numbers, new contracts); generation clash; lack of experienced workers on the market means that employees can be poached easily.

2. What could be developed as this employer’s brand to make it realistic and attractive to candidates? Branding refers to a company‘s efforts to help existing and prospective workers understand why it is a desirable place to work. Ways include (a) reach out via social networks; (b) philanthropic activities; (c) understand your employees.

3. Develop solutions to the recruitment issues facing this firm. They first need to understand why people are leaving; this requires data collection from current and former employees, and analysis. Once it is known why they are leaving, then focused efforts can be rallied to stem the tide. Given that one of the issues is intergenerational, it may be wise to discover ways to allow the older and younger employees to find common ground. Shared goals and incentives are a way to achieve that, as is training and shared experiences. They could also set up a shared mentor program where young employees mentor older employees in technology, and older employees mentor younger employees in ―know-how.‖

Case Study 2: Recruitment Channels 1. Provide recommendations for proactive best practices and leading-edge sourcing approaches. Recruiting the digitally savvy under-30-year-olds means using non-traditional recruiting techniques, such as informative websites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, and so forth.

Recruiting from the other three generations can use a combination of traditional methods like referrals, advertisements, professional associations, web-based recruiting, and private employment agencies. Even more creative ideas can be used for recruitment, such as competitions for jobs where candidates would have to demonstrate their innovation and creativity in response to some screening requirement, like a marketing ad for LoyaltyOne.

Case Study 3: Get Paid for Employee Referral 1. How does automating the employee referral process encourage referrals? It is easier to do so electronically (can be done from home, at one‘s own pace, etc.).

2. What do you think some of the drawbacks of getting referrals from social network sites might be? The quality of employee-referred applicants is normally quite high, since employees are generally hesitant to recommend individuals who might not perform well; they tend to remain with the organization longer as well. Disadvantages associated with lxxv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

employee referrals include the possibility of corporate inbreeding, systemic discrimination, and nepotism.

Chapter 6: Employee Selection If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

There are a variety of ways that employees can be selected for positions; HRM professionals have a tool kit of selection tools at their disposal. The primary purpose of selection is to predict future performance.

Examining the validity of a test is incredibly important so that HR can avoid ―misses‖ and maximize ―hits,‖ reach its diversity goals, and avoid accusations of discrimination.

Learning outcomes 1. Explain the objectives of the personnel selection process, its steps and why the information gathered during the process must be reliable and valid.

2. Describe the tools used to initially screen applicants, the types of employment interviews and methods to administer them, and the post-screening tools that firms use.

3. Compare the value of different types of employment tests and how their reliability and validity are assessed.

4. Explain how firms evaluate the information they collect on a group of candidates and the decision strategies they use to select employees.

Why is this chapter important?

There is perhaps no more important topic in HRM than employee selection. If it is true that organizations succeed or fail on the basis of talents of employees, then managers directly influence that success by the people they hire. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that the cost of hiring someone for an intermediate position that has not been carefully planned is approximately $20,000, and the cost of hiring the wrong person for a senior manager‘s position is $100,000. Regardless of whether the company is large or small, hiring the best and the brightest employees lays a strong foundation for excellence. Alternatively, an inordinate amount of time is spent trying to fix bad selection decisions. In addition, employment equity legislation has also provided an impetus for making sure that the selection process is done well. The bottom line is that good selection decisions make a difference. So do bad ones.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, lxxvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

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Use Highlights in HRM 6.2: Hiring Managers Reveal Mistakes Candidates Make during Job Interviews to share some of the funniest statements made by job applicants, or ask students to share some of the strangest or funniest interview questions they have been asked, or have asked applicants.

Use Discussion Question 1 to get students thinking about how organizations select employees: In groups, describe to each other the steps in the selection process that you experienced in a recent job search. Compare these experiences and discuss the reasons why there would be differences. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions.

Ask students to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in advance of class. Use Billsberry and Gilbert‘s (2008) article to guide a discussion. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Provide students with a copy of Reality Check: Behavioural Interviews at BMO. Ask students what they think about BMO Financial Group‘s use of behavioural interviewing in their hiring process. Refer to this case throughout the lecture.

Overview of the Selection Process Use Figure 6.1: The Goal of Selection: Maximize ―Hits‖ to show that the overall goal of selection is to maximize accurate predictions (―hits‖) and avoid inaccurate predictions (―misses‖). 

Call-Out Question: What are the costs of a miss? It depends on the type of miss. One type of miss implies an opportunity cost (someone who would have been successful did not get the chance), and the other implies that the wrong person was hired for the job (someone was hired when they should not have been hired).

(1) Begin with a Job Analysis It might be useful to review with students information presented in Chapter 4 on job specifications.

(2) The Selection Process  Use Figure 6.2: Steps in the Selection Process to highlight the steps, but let students know that not all applicants go through all of the steps. Alternatively, draw the figure without using words, and administer the handout so that students can fill in the missing information as the instructor suggests.  Regardless of the steps, the selection tools must be reliable and valid.  Reliability: This is the degree to which interviews, tests, and other selection procedures yield comparable data over time and alternative measures (there are different types of validities: inter-rater, inter-item, inter-method, test-retest).

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Validity: This is the degree to which a test or selection procedure measures a person‘s attributes (see a more elaborate discussion of validity later in the chapter).

Initial Screening (1) Cover Letters and Résumés  Generally, these documents are reviewed first with an eye toward who can be eliminated because they do not have the skills, abilities, education, or experience outlined in the job description for the application.  Evaluating résumés can be a subjective process because evaluators tend not to have a consistent standard across multiple candidates.  Use Figure 6.3: Application/Resume Assessment Grid to show a structured approach to evaluating résumés. This approach can help make the process less subjective.  Manually screening résumés takes a long time; many HR professionals use computer software to make the process of screening résumés faster and easier. 

Clickers: Give one-third of students in your class a résumé with an English-sounding name (e.g., Jeffrey Brown), one-third with a Chinese name (e.g., Jing Lin), and onethird with an Indian or Pakistani name (e.g., Faisal Malik). Ask students to rate the résumés on a number of dimensions (e.g., professionalism, likelihood of being interviewed by an organization, leadership ability, etc.). Since research shows that job applicants with English names have a greater chance of getting interviews than those with Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani names, you will likely find that ratings will be higher for the candidate with the English-sounding name, versus the other two. If you don‘t find this, then discuss with students why this might be the case.

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Case Study: Use Case Study 2: Pros and Cons of Cleaning Up the ―Resu-mess‖ as a basis for a discussion on electronic résumé management.

(2) Internet Checks and Phone Screening Many HR professionals are ―Googling‖ applicants‘ names and checking social networking sites before deciding whether to invite someone for an interview. See Chapter 5 in the Instructor‘s Manual for exercises and references on this important topic.

(3) Application Forms Benefits:  Quick and systematic means of obtaining information about an applicant  Show whether the applicant meets the minimum requirements  Provide a basis for interview questions  Offer sources for reference checks  People less likely to lie on an application form than in a résumé Some organizations use a weighted application blank (WAB), which involves the use of a common standardized employment application that is designed to distinguish between successful and unsuccessful employees. lxxviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Small Group Discussion: Ask students to read Ethics in HRM: Writing It Wrong, and to respond to the following questions: (1) What should an employer do if they find out that someone has lied on an application form? (2) Why would someone omit information from their application form (e.g., degrees or experience)? Is it lying to omit information on an application form?

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Online Applications: Advantages: quick, fast, and generate many candidates, leading to greater diversity Disadvantages: large volumes of applications submitted, many of which fail to meet the minimum requirements

Employment Interviews The interview remains a mainstay of selection because (1) it is especially practical when there are only a small number of applicants; (2) it serves other purposes, such as public relations; and (3) interviewers maintain great faith and confidence in their judgments.  YouTube Video: You can find clips of Ali G interviewing various famous individuals on YouTube quite easily by searching ―Ali G Interview.‖ His interviews are hilarious, and you can ask your students what Ali G did right, and how he could have interviewed better.

Structure determines the actions of the interviewer. The more structure an interview has, the more the interviewer will direct the interview.

(1) Nondirective Interviews  Nondirective interview – allows the applicant the maximum amount of freedom in determining the course of the discussion, while the interviewer carefully refrains from influencing the applicant‘s remarks  Low reliability and validity  Used mainly for high-level positions (2) Structured Interviews  Structured interview: an interview in which a set of standardized questions having an established set of answers is used  Provides a more consistent basis for evaluating job candidates  Twice as likely as nondirective interviews to predict on-the-job performance, and less likely than nondirective interviews to be attacked in court (3) Situational Interviews  Situational interview: an interview in which an applicant is given a hypothetical incident and asked how he or she would respond to it  Highlights in HRM 6.1: Sample Situational Interview Question shows a question from a situational interview used to select systems analysts at a chemical plant. lxxix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

(4) Behavioural Description Interviews  Behavioural description interview (BDI): an interview in which an applicant is asked questions about what he or she did in a given situation  See Reality Check: Behavioural Interviews at BMO for sample behavioural questions posed by BMO Financial.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: The Business Case: Behavioural Interviews Bring Big Returns outlines the advantages of the behavioural interview.  Connectivity Activity: If you used the critical incident technique exercise when teaching Job Analysis, then this is a good opportunity to reuse those critical incidents to teach students how to develop situational and behavioural interview questions based on those incidents. Alternatively, you can find job descriptions for a variety of jobs online.

Provide one to each group, and ask students to generate one situational and one behavioural interview question for those jobs. In taking up the exercise, students should be able to clearly state which KSAOs their questions tap into from the job description.

(5) Panel and Sequential Interviews  Panel interview: an interview in which a board of interviewers questions and observes a single candidate  Advantages: higher reliability because it involves multiple inputs; shorter decision-making period; applicants more likely to accept the decisions made; hiring discrimination is minimized  Sequential interview: a format in which a candidate is interviewed by multiple people, one right after another (6) Video and Phone Interviews  Video interviews are attractive because of their convenience and low cost, and because they make it easier to interview people in different geographic areas, thereby expanding the talent pool. Phone interviews can be effective and help expand a company‘s pool of talent as well.

(7) Computer-Administered (Automated) Interviews  Managers can watch at their convenience but can‘t ask candidates follow-up questions based on their answers.  Use Highlights in HRM 6.2 to discuss some of the mistakes made by job applicants in interviews.

Guidelines for Employment Interviewers 

Call-Out Question: Do you think that the interviewer is an important determinant in an applicant‘s decision to take a job? Have you ever been interviewed by someone who you either really liked or disliked? How did that influence your opinions about the job or the organization? What characteristics do you think an interviewer should have?

(Answers may include: humility, the ability to think objectively, maturity, and poise; lxxx Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

experience in associating with people from a variety of backgrounds; not over-talkative, no extreme opinions or biases.)

(1) Interviewer Training  Training has been shown to dramatically improve the competence of interviewers.  Introduce the concept of ―beautyism‖—discrimination against unattractive but talented people.

(2) Are Your Questions Legal?

The examples of appropriate and inappropriate questions shown in Highlights in HRM 6.3: Appropriate and Inappropriate Interview Questions may serve as guidelines for application forms, as well as for pre-employment interviews. 

Clickers: Develop True or False questions based on Highlights in HRM 6.3: Appropriate and Inappropriate Interview Questions, and ask students whether the interview questions that you develop are legal or illegal.

Post-Interview Screening 

Information about previous employment and other information provided by the applicant are investigated.

(1) Reference Checks  The most reliable information usually comes from supervisors, who are in the best position to report on an applicant‘s work habits and performance.  Highlights in HRM 6.4: Sample Reference-Checking Questions includes a list of helpful questions to ask about applicants when checking their references.  Many organizations are reluctant to put into writing an evaluation of a former employee for fear of being sued by the person. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Ask students to imagine that they were applying for their ―dream‖ job. If the employer asked them to provide a reference, who would they choose? Encourage students to think about all non-relatives that they know, and if they do not have a reference, they should consider cultivating relationships now with others, so that when the time comes, they have a person who they can ask.

(2) Background Checks The vast majority (over 90 percent) of Canadian companies surveyed by the Canadian HR Reporter indicated that they conduct background checks for previous employment history (92 percent), academic qualifications (53 percent), criminal record (50 percent), and credit rating (11 percent).

(3) Credit Checks lxxxi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

For positions of trust, such as those involving financial instruments in banks, credit reports must be used. Applicants must agree in writing to a credit report and have the right to review its contents. The reason for the credit report must be job related.

Preemployment Tests These tests are objective and standardized measures of a sample of behaviour used to gauge a person‘s KSAOs relative to other individuals.

lxxxii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Types of Tests 1. Job Knowledge Tests 2. Work Sample Tests  Connectivity Activity: If students had to select a new professor for their course in human resource management, what kind of work sample test could they provide to ensure that the professor is able to perform the job well? (Examples might include presenting on a topic of relevance to HRM; grading papers; responding to student questions, etc.)

3. Assessment Centre Tests (including in-basket exercises, leaderless group discussions, roleplaying, and behavioural interviews) 4. Cognitive Ability Tests (Figure 6.5: General Competency Test Level 1 provides examples of questions from the General Competency Test (GCT) administered by the Public Service Commission of Canada.)

5. Biodata Tests  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 3 as a basis for a think-pair-share: What characteristics do job knowledge and job sample tests have that often make them more acceptable to the examinees than other types of tests? See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

6. Personality and Interest Inventories (The ―Big Five‖ factors are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience.)  In-Class Personality Assessment: Use Saucier‘s Mini Markers to allow students to self-assess the Big Five. See the full reference for this article in Recommended Reading.

7. Polygraph Tests (prohibited under the Employment Standards Acts in both Ontario and New Brunswick) 8. Honesty and Integrity Tests  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Payless ShoeSource has used a paper-and-pencil honesty test to reduce employee theft. When the company began its program, losses totalled nearly $21 million per year among its 4700 stores. Within only one year of implementing its screening program, inventory shrinkage fell by 20 percent to less than 1 percent of sales.

9. Physical Ability Tests (Use with caution; refer to bona-fide occupational requirements in Chapter 3.)

10. Medical Examinations  After-Class Assignment: Ask students to pair up and go to the Treasury Board Secretariat of the federal government and report back to class with its policies on the accommodation of persons with disabilities: www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/TB_852/ppaed_e.asp 11. Drug Testing (Addiction to drugs or alcohol is considered a disability, and the employer is to be guided by legislation and by practices such as workplace accommodation.)

Determining the Validity of Tests (1) Criterion-Related Validity

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

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Call-Out Question: Use Discussion Question 4 to see whether students understand how the word criterion is used in HRM: What is meant by the term criterion as it is used in personnel selection? Give some examples of criteria used for jobs with which you are familiar. See the recommended solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Criterion-related validity is the extent to which a selection tool predicts, or significantly correlates with, important elements of work behaviour.

There are two ways to establish criterion-related validity:  Concurrent validity involves obtaining criterion data from current employees at about the same time that test scores (or other predictor information) are obtained.  Predictive validity, on the other hand, involves testing applicants and obtaining criterion data after those applicants have been hired and have been on the job for a certain period of time.  Cross-validation is a process in which a test or battery of tests is administered to a different sample of people (drawn from the same population) for the purpose of verifying the results obtained from the original validation study.

(2) Content Validity Content validity is assumed to exist when a selection instrument, such as a test, adequately samples the knowledge and skills a person needs to do a particular job.

(3) Construct Validity Construct validity is the extent to which a selection tool measures a theoretical construct, or trait (e.g., intelligence, anxiety).  Case Study: Use Case Study 3: Searching for Spies to encourage students to apply concepts related to validity to a selection process. See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies. 

Connectivity Activity: Use Nassif and Khalil‘s ideas found in their article entitled ―Making a Pie as a Metaphor for Teaching Scale Validity and Reliability.‖ See the full reference in Recommended Readings.

Reaching a Selection Decision Use Figure 6.6: Candidate Evaluation Form to show an example of a checklist while evaluating candidates.

(1) Summarizing Information about Applicants Fundamentally, an employer is interested in what an applicant can do and will do. 

Call-Out Question: Which is easier to ascertain: ―can do‖ or ―will do‖ factors? It is easier to measure what individuals can do than what they will do. The ―can do‖ factors are readily evident from test scores and verified information. What the individual will do can only be inferred. Employers can use the responses to interview and application

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form questions and references to obtain information for making inferences about what an individual will do.

(2) Decision-Making Strategy There are two approaches to decision-making strategy:  Clinical Approach: a number of individuals use their judgment to come to a decision about who to hire; most commonly used.  Statistical Approach: involves identifying the most valid predictors and weighting them, using statistical methods such as multiple regression; better than clinical in predicting performance.

An important statistic to take into consideration is the selection ratio: the number of applicants compared to the number of people to be hired.

Final Decision  

After a preliminary selection/screening by a firm‘s HR department has been conducted, the applicants who appear most promising are then referred to the departments with vacancies.

In large organizations, notifying applicants of the decision that has been made and making job offers is often the responsibility of HR departments.

Finishing Class  

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Use HRM Experience: Designing Selection Criteria and Methods to help students solidify and integrate the lecture material.

Connectivity Activity: Ask students to generate a selection tool kit that could be used to select students to take a course in Advanced Human Resource Management, making sure that the tools they choose are valid, reliable, and cost-effective. Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students a question, such as: How long does it take before you know that you do not fit an organization’s culture? What indicators might you observe? Remind students that although they might be very competent in their jobs, they will be miserable if they do not fit the organization‘s culture. Fitting a culture is very individualized and cannot be easily taught. Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading

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   

Billsberry, J., & Gilbert, L H. (2008). Using Roald Dahl‘s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to teach different recruitment and selection paradigms. Journal of Management Education, 32(2), 228–247.

Latham, G.P., & Sue Chan, C. (1999). A meta-analysis of the situational interview: An enumerative review of reasons for its validity. Canadian Psychology, 40(1), 56–67.

Nassif, N., & Khalil, Y. (2006). Making a Pie as a Metaphor for Teaching Scale Validity and Reliability. American Journal of Evaluation, 27(3), 393–398.

Saucier, G. (1994). Mini-Markers: A brief version of Goldberg‘s unipolar Big Five Markers. Journal of Personality Assessment, 63(3), 506–516.

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Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. In groups, describe to each other the steps in the selection process that you experienced in a recent job search. Compare these experiences and discuss the reasons why there would be differences. The differences may derive from (1) size of the organization (economies of scale in using cognitive ability tests, for instance), (2) position to be filled (whether an application form was used or more sophisticated techniques), or (3) the quality of interviewer(s). There might also be differences in (4) selection tools used, and (5) even the amount of time spent in the selection process. Students should come to realize that selection happens in very different ways in organizations, and there is not a single recipe for success.

2. Compare briefly the major types of employment interviews described in this chapter. Which type would you prefer to conduct? Why? The major types of employment interviews described are nondirective, structured, situational, behavioural description, panel, computer, and video. The major difference among them is the degree of structure or control, with the nondirective type having minimal structure. In the structured interview, the interviewer adheres closely to a highly detailed set of questions on specially prepared forms. Students will have different choices for different reasons.

3. What characteristics do job knowledge and job sample tests have that often make them more acceptable to the examinees than other types of tests? They have higher levels of face validity, in that they appear valid to most people. They appear to be a good way to see whether someone would perform well on the job, and therefore they are far more acceptable in the eyes of job seekers than personality or bio-data tests.

4. What is meant by the term criterion as it is used in personnel selection? Give some examples of criteria used for jobs with which you are familiar. Criterion is another word for outcome or dependent variable. In some jobs, the criterion will be sales or customer satisfaction ratings, while in others it may be innovative product design or provision of services.

5. In what ways does the clinical approach to selection differ from the statistical approach?

How do you account for the fact that one approach is superior to the other? Students need to research this area and write a paper as part of an assignment to discuss the advantages and limitations of this process, and to assess its reliability and validity.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Job Candidate Assessment Tests Go Virtual 1. What do you think are the primary advantages and disadvantages of ―virtual tryouts‖?

One chief advantage of a virtual simulation is that it creates a unique impression among applicants, making the organization employing ―virtual tryouts‖ stand out among its

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competitors as a cutting-edge company. This is especially important among Gen Y applicants. The other advantage is that it allows the bank to hire workers that come from sectors outside banking as long as they have transferable skills. Another advantage is that it will discourage applicants from applying who would not enjoy the job (self-selection) and provide a realistic job preview to applicants. Research suggests that realistic job previews lead to higher attraction and retention. Potential disadvantages are that the tests do not assess whether someone would perform well on the job, but rather test a person‘s ability to use a computer. There are also concerns with who is taking the test—is it the actual job seeker, or someone else? It is also very expensive, and therefore used by larger organizations only. HR managers should also ensure that they are reliable and valid measures of performance (for an in-class discussion, ask students how they would go about ensuring that they are valid and reliable).

2. Do you think there would be any employment equity concerns regarding this system?

National City Bank should be concerned about the public relations aspects of the system.

Virtual tryouts, particularly those conducted as a group, may not give people the feeling that they have had a chance to present themselves accurately or fully. Applicants might be justly upset if they were eliminated by an impersonal selection check.

3. Do you think virtual job tryouts might be better suited for some jobs than others? If so, which ones? There are many right answers to this question. Possible modifications to the system should focus on enhancing validity as well as preventing discrimination. Ask students their recommendations and encourage creative thinking.

Case Study 2: Pros and Cons of Cleaning Up the “Resu-mess” 1. What impact do you think résumé screening tools are having on HR departments? What about line managers? Would you use the software to screen résumés? The primary benefit of résumé screening tools is that recruiters‘ and managers‘ time is freed up— time that can be used to pursue hiring the most qualified applicants versus sorting through résumés. Because managers have to spend less time screening applicants, they have more time to spend on tasks like strategy planning and employee training initiatives designed to give the firm an edge over its competitors. The new tools also allow HR managers to recruit more qualified applicants than they might have hired using traditional screening methods. On the other hand, managers tend to pile on huge numbers of keywords so that very few applicants can make it past the screen. There is also a lack of the human touch and judgment in the process. Managers don‘t end up seeing interesting résumés—résumés from people who have different skills or life experiences that would translate well to the job. Consequently, a lot of people who would make excellent employees never get a glance.

2. How might the drawbacks associated with résumé screening software be addressed?

Using alternative ways to attract applicants, as suggested in the case, may be a solid idea. Being more specific in what the job requires, providing a ―realistic job preview,‖ and also providing structured interview questions on the online application system may also reduce the number of ―spammers.‖ Whether résumés should even be accepted is lxxxviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

another question. Why not use an application form? Research actually shows that people are more likely to be honest (or less likely to lie!) on an application form than on their résumé. Application forms also remind the applicant of what the organization is looking for, and may therefore deter applicants who are not qualified. The idea presented in the case, however, may reduce the diversity of applicants.

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Case Study 3: Searching for Spies 1. Do you think the selection system used by CSIS is valid? Using your knowledge of validity, rate each step in this process.

Type of Validity 1. Validity is the degree to which a test or selection procedure measures a person‘s attributes.

2. Criterion-related validity is the extent to which a selection tool predicts, or significantly correlates with, important elements of work behaviour.

3. Concurrent validity is the extent to which test scores (or other predictor information) match criterion obtained at about the same time from current employees.

4. Predictive validity is the extent to which applicants‘ test scores match criterion data obtained from those applicants/employees after they have been on the job for some indefinite period.

5. Cross-validation means to verify the results obtained from a validation study by administering a test or test battery to a different sample (drawn from the same population).

Procedure General validity is measured with the multitude of tests and information gathering.

Language skills are tested and then retested in the 12-week classroom training, which indicates that these tests correlate with multilingual skills.

The psychological and aptitude tests can be compared to other individuals in order to match the criteria at the same time of the recruitment efforts.

The security clearance procedures can be matched to the performance scores of the applicants during the probationary period, and then again in the field while being observed by a mentor.

It is implied that the national assessment panel will generally assess the candidate‘s motivation, knowledge of CSIS, and awareness of public affairs, and that this assessment is compared to the information obtained from the suitability interview.

There is no indication that validity generalization is being applied.

6. Validity generalization is the extent to which validity coefficients can be generalized across situations.

7. Content validity is the extent to which a selection instrument, such as a test, adequately samples the knowledge and skills needed to perform a particular job.

8. Construct validity is the extent to which a selection tool measures a theoretical construct or trait.

Language tests, aptitude tests, and psychological tests are all indications that content validity is being tested.

There is no indication that construct validity is being applied.

2. One reason CSIS went public was to increase the representation of women from 10 percent to a target of 50 percent. Are there any possible problems with discrimination in this selection system? Discuss. Although they targeted visible minorities, there is nothing in the case to suggest that women were targeted in recruitment.

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Chapter 7: Training and Development If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

A systematic approach to training and development is necessary in order to realize a return on investment in training.

A training program needs to be evaluated along four dimensions in order to demonstrate its value to the organization.

Learning outcomes 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Discuss the scope of training and development and its strategic aspects.

Describe how a training needs assessment should be done.

Describe the factors that must be taken into account when designing a training program.

Identify the types of training delivery methods organizations use.

Explain how the effectiveness of training programs is evaluated and describe some of the additional training programs conducted by firms.

Why is this chapter important?

Training has become increasingly vital to the success of modern organizations. Training plays a central role in nurturing and strengthening these competencies, and in this way has become part of the backbone of strategy implementation. In addition, rapidly changing technologies require that employees continuously hone their knowledge, skills, and abilities to cope with new processes and systems. Jobs that require little skill are rapidly being replaced by jobs that require technical, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills. Other trends toward empowerment, totalquality management, teamwork, and international business make it necessary for managers, as well as employees, to develop the skills that will enable them to handle new and more demanding assignments.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 



Use an inductive approach to this class by presenting the case study written by Brown and colleagues (2003) called ―What went wrong at the university hospital?‖ See the full citation in Recommended Reading. Use it as a basis of discussion to identify the pitfalls of training.

Refer back to the case throughout the lecture to illustrate key points.

Ask students to volunteer their experiences where they had minimal or no on-the-job training. How did they feel? Was their safety compromised? If students could create an xci Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.





ideal training event, what would it look like? Emphasize the importance of having a comprehensive approach to training.

Use clickers or ask for a show of hands to multiple-choice questions that you develop based on interesting facts about training. For instance, ask: How much do Canadian businesses spend on training per employee per year? (answer = $688); What is the average number of hours employees spend in training per year? (answer = 25); What percentage of organizations train their managers? (answer = 90 percent) First, ask students about the purpose of training. You will likely find that students‘ response is that training helps employees perform their jobs effectively. Then, suggest that if training leads to higher levels of performance, should organizations make training mandatory? Many students will likely say yes—training should be mandatory so that employees know how to perform their jobs effectively. Provide students with a copy of Ethics in HRM: Mandatory or Voluntary? to generate a discussion that the answer to that question may not always be black and white.

The Scope of Training   

The term training describes almost any effort initiated by an organization to foster learning among its members.

Training is narrowly focused and oriented toward short-term performance concerns.

Development involves broadening an individual‘s skills for future responsibilities.

A Strategic Approach to Training    

The goal of training is to contribute to the organization‘s overall goals.

Explain that training often follows fads and fashions, and so is often misdirected, poorly designed, inadequately evaluated, and often a waste of money.

Use Figure 7.1: Strategic Model of Training to review the parts of the strategic approach to training, and discuss how the parts interrelate and support one another.

Call-Out Question: What aspects of training plans do you think are strategic, and how are these different or similar to the educational and career plans that you have created for yourself?

PHASE 1: Conducting the Needs Assessment  

Use Figure 7.2: Needs Assessment for Training to discuss the costs and benefits of conducting needs assessment in-house or using a consultant. Needs assessment consists of three parts: organization, task, and person analyses.

Use Highlights in HRM 7.1: Notes on Rapid Needs Assessment to discuss ways of doing rapid assessment for training needs.

A. Organization Analysis: the examination of the environment, strategies, and resources of the organization to determine where training emphasis should be placed B. Task Analysis: the process of determining what the content of a training program should be on the basis of a study of the tasks and duties involved in the job C. Person Analysis: the determination of the specific individuals who need training

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





Connectivity Activity: Create a hypothetical organization, and ask students to imagine a group of employees who are all performing poorly in one aspect of their job. Ask students how they would go about conducting an organization, task, and person analysis. If it is useful, provide an example, such as call centre workers who are unable to sell sufficient products to customers on the telephone.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Highlights in HRM 7.2: A Competency Assessment for a Managerial Position to discuss issues pertaining to competency assessment. Competency assessment is an analysis of the sets of skills and knowledge needed for decision-oriented and knowledge-intensive jobs.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 2 as a basis for small group discussion and application: You have been asked by a colleague to teach her how to use Excel.

How would you conduct a needs analysis to determine her current knowledge and skill level? See a recommended solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

PHASE 2: Designing the Training Program

 Call-Out Question: You have had years of educational experiences. What have you learned about how you learn and how others learn best? You can list the points that students suggest on the board, grouping them according to the four areas below.

Instructors should ask guided questions to ensure that students generate ideas from all of the four areas.

The four related areas are: (1) Instructional objectives  Instructional objectives are the desired outcomes of a training program. These objectives will guide the development of the training content and will be used to assess the value of the training program.  Performance-centred objectives typically include precise terms, such as ―To calculate,‖ ―To adjust,‖ ―To assemble,‖ and so on. Refer to Locke and Latham‘s (2002) goal-setting theory. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.  Connectivity Activity: Ask students to examine the course handbook for class. Ask them to identify the instructional objectives that you have laid out for them. Are they ‗performance-centred‘?  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to pair up to consider this course and its learning objectives. Ask them to develop four learning objectives that are performance-centred.

Ask students to present to the class, or have students choose their favourite one, and write it on the board. Take it up and congratulate students for being creative.

(2) Assessing the Readiness and Motivation of Trainees Two preconditions affect the success of those receiving training: (1) trainee readiness (the maturity and experience of the trainee), and (2) trainee motivation.

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

Call-Out Question: Ask students to think about the courses in which they were ready and motivated to learn. What did the professor do, or what was the class like that led to their motivation? Answers should tap into the following six strategies that can help trainee readiness: (1) Use positive reinforcement; (2) Eliminate threats and punishment; (3) Be flexible; (4) Have participants set personal goals; (5) Design interesting instruction; (6) Break down physical and psychological obstacles to learning.

(3) Incorporating Principles of Learning When discussing each of the principles, it might be good to set up an example to show how the principles apply to a particular training task. Teaching someone to drive a car might be an example to which all students could relate.  Goal Setting—This focuses and motivates trainees and may increase their level of interest, understanding, and effort directed toward the training. See Recommended Reading for an article by Locke and Latham (2002) on goal setting.  Meaningfulness of Presentation—The training material should be arranged in a logical and meaningful way.  Modelling—This also increases the salience of behavioural training. As they say, ―A picture‘s worth a thousand words.‖ Modelling demonstrates the desired behaviour or method to be learned.  Individual Learning Differences—People learn at different rates and in different ways.

Training should try to accommodate those individual differences.  Active Practice and Repetition—Most of us learn to do any task through practice. It is advisable to give reinforcement and knowledge of progress during the practice phase of learning. Practice does not make perfect; ―Perfect practice makes perfect.‖  Whole-versus-Part Learning—Should a job be learned in parts or as a whole? The answer lies in how simple or complex the job is. Normally, studies show that part learning is superior to whole learning.  Massed, Distributed, and Continuous Learning—Fatigue can cause a loss of learning during a training session. It is normally advisable to divide the training session into segments. The length of the sessions will depend on the complexity of the material and the type of task to be learned.  Feedback and Reinforcement—Spot rewards, for example, are programs that award employees ―on the spot‖ when they do something particularly well during training or on the job. Behaviour modification is a technique that operates on the principle that behaviour that is rewarded, or positively reinforced, will be exhibited more frequently in the future, whereas behaviour that is penalized or unrewarded will decrease in frequency. To have maximum effect, reinforcement should be given immediately after the task is completed successfully.  Use Figure 7.4: A Typical Learning Curve to discuss the time associated with learning.

Knowledge of progress can be shown through tests, records, and charts commonly referred to as learning curves. 

Connectivity Activity: Use HRM Experience: Training and Learning Principles to illustrate the learning principles that can be used in teaching others to create paper airplanes. See comments on this exercise in Additional Teaching Resources. xciv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

(4) Characteristics of Instructors Simply knowing the material may not be enough to train someone. Trainees often remark that they learn more effectively when the trainer is interesting and possesses good teaching skills.

Review the list of the characteristics of successful trainers. 

Connectivity Activity: Have students work in groups to develop a list of the characteristics of successful trainers they have known. Put the lists on the board and see how similar they are. Normally, there is a lot of overlap.

PHASE 3: Implementing the Training Program—Training Delivery Methods 

Various training methods are illustrated along a learning continuum in Figure 7.5, Learning Outcomes By Training Method.  Use Figure 7.6: Training Delivery Methods to show the delivery method as a percentage of overall learning time.

1. On-the-Job Training (including apprenticeship training)  Think-Pair-Share: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this method and list them on the board. Have students suggest ways to make this method more effective.

Disadvantages are lack of a well-structured training environment, poor training skills on the part of the managers, and absence of well-defined job performance criteria.

When taking this up, refer to Figure 7.7: The PROPER Way to Do On-the-Job Training.

2. Special Assignments  Individual Assignment: There is an interesting body of research that shows that men tend to be provided with more challenging assignments—or stretch assignments—than women, which negatively impacts the career progression of women. Ask students to summarize an article entitled ―Gender Differences in Managers‘ Developmental Job Experiences,‖ and summarize the findings, and also discuss what HRM can do to ensure that men and women have equal access to individual assignments. See the full reference for this article in Recommended Reading.

3. Cooperative Training, Internships, and Governmental Training  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Refer students to Highlights in HRM 7.3: Internship Program at Durham College for an overview of an internship program at Durham College.  Call-Out Question: Ask students if anyone has had an internship. What made them effective or ineffective? Use the information on internship programs to discuss with students how to make the most of their internship opportunities.

4. Simulations 5. Games and Virtual Reality 6. E-Learning (many options are available: just-in-time training, microlearning, MOOCs, social media). It increasingly involves the use of a learning management system (LMS), which combines a company‘s e-learning, employee assessment tools, and other training functions into one electronic tool, often custom built for the firm by software vendors.

7. Social Media xcv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

8. Behaviour modelling  Connectivity Activity: Ask students to prepare a behaviour modelling program for a topic such as ―making a paper airplane.‖ They could go through each step of the process and discuss the value of each step in the method.

9. Role-playing  Connectivity Activity: Ask students whether they have ever been asked to perform a role-play. Most students, especially in business programs, will have done role-plays in class. Ask students to generate a tip sheet for effective administration of role-plays.

10. Coaching 11. Case Studies  See Figure 7.8: Case Studies for best-practice tips on using case studies.

12. Seminars and conferences 13. Blended learning 14. Classroom (lecture) instruction  In-Class Debate: Ask students to debate the merits of online learning versus classroom learning for their university classes.

PHASE 4: Evaluating the Training Program 



Connectivity Activity: Have students form groups with the task of each group suggesting an evaluation program for assessing the effectiveness of their course in HRM. Emphasize the four major criteria: reaction, learning, behaviour/transfer, and results. Use Figure 7.9: Criteria for Evaluating Training for this discussion.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Reality Check: A Classic Four-Level Evaluation to describe how these four levels have been applied at Conexus, the largest credit union in Saskatchewan.

Criterion 1: Reactions Participant reactions may give a quick indication of trouble spots and also provide an idea of participants‘ attitudes regarding the value of the training. However, too many conclusions are drawn from such ratings.

Criterion 2: Learning Beyond trainee reactions, it is good to determine if employees actually learned what the training was designed to teach. Test knowledge and skills before and after training.

Criterion 3: Behaviour Much of what is learned in training never gets used on the job. Transfer of training is the effective application of principles learned to what is required on the job. Refer to Blume, Ford, Baldwin, and Huang‘s (2010) recent meta-analysis on transfer of training. See the full citation in Recommended Reading. To maximize transfer, there are several helpful approaches:  Feature identical elements.  Focus on general principles.

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 

Establish a climate for transfer.

Give employees transfer strategies.

Criterion 4: Results, or Return on Investment (ROI) Many organizations are beginning to look at return on investment (ROI), also called utility, which are the benefits derived from training relative to the costs incurred. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See The Business Case: Return on Training Investment for information on how companies such as TD Bank earn a return on their investment in training.

Benchmarking is the process of measuring one‘s own services and practices against the recognized leaders in order to identify areas for improvement. See Highlights in HRM 7.4: Benchmarking HR Training for different measures of the effectiveness of training, and how to calculate the results. 



•

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 3. Ask students: Suppose that you are the manager of an accounts receivable unit in a large company. You are switching to a new system of billing and record keeping and need to train 3 supervisors and 28 employees in the new procedures. What training method(s) would you use? Why? See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Case Studies: Use Case Study 2: People Development Strategies at Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan to reinforce learning about training and development for managers, resistance to change, and evaluation of training. Case Study 3: Onboarding at Capital Power can also be used to teach evaluation in the context of orientation training.

Bringing It Together Connectivity Activity: Write down steps in developing a training program on cue cards, one step per card. Those steps should include all four stages of evaluation, top management commitment, choice of training methods, choice of instructor, and also administrative issues such as size of room, rental equipment, invite trainees, and so on. Make as many bundles of cue cards as there are 5- to 6member groups in the class. Give one stack of cards to each group. Ask students to put the cue cards in the order that they would carry out those activities if they were organizing a training program. It is fun to provide students with masking tape and ask them to tape the cards, in order, to a wall. Students can then do a ―gallery walk‖ to see each other‘s sequences. This is a useful exercise as it helps students to review the concepts, and also to think about how to actually carry out training.

Additional Training and Development Programs Many employers develop training programs to meet special needs. The following areas are covered in this chapter: 1. Orientation and Onboarding

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

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 7.6: Wowing the Candidate, and then refer students to Highlights in HRM 7.5: Checklist for Orienting New Employees.  Small Group Projects: Ask students to get into groups and design an orientation program for a new student to your university. Another idea is to have students brainstorm, in groups or individually, how orientation programs can help organizations and their supervisors.  Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Service at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler to highlight effective orientation programs, transfer of training to the job, and evaluation aspects of training and development. See the sample solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.  Case Study: Use Case Study 3: Onboarding at Capital Power to highlight effective orientation programs, and evaluation of orientation programs. See the sample solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

2. Basic Skills Training 3. Team Training and Cross-Training  Use Figure 7.10: Team Training Skills to talk about the skills that successful teams must learn.

4. Ethics Training  Group Assignment: Giacalone, Jurkiewicz, and Knouse (2003) describe a student group project where students are asked to develop an ethics training session for a business. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Finishing Class    

 

Ask students to think about how training might differ in small versus large organizations.

Leave the class by discussing the Small Business Application.

Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students a question, such as, ―Training is a lifelong journey that demonstrates an individual‘s ability and desire to change. Can a person be trained if he or she does not want to change?‖ Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading xcviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

    

Blume, B., Ford, J.K., Baldwin, T., & Huang, J. (2010). Transfer of training: A metaanalytic review. Journal of Management, 36(4), 1065–1105.

Brown, T.C., Li, S.X., Sargent, L.D., & Tasa, K. (2003). What went wrong at the university hospital? An exercise in assessing training effectiveness. Journal of Management Education, 27(4), 485–496.

Giacalone, R.A., Jurkiewicz, C.L., & Knouse, S.B. (2003). A capstone project in business ethics: Building an ethics training program. Journal of Management Education, 27(5), 590–607.

Locke, E.A., & Latham, G.P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task performance: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717.

Ohlott, P. J., Ruderman, M. N., & McCauley, C. D. (1994). Gender differences in managers‘ developmental job experiences. Academy of Management Journal, 37(1), 46– 67.

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Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. What economic, social, and political forces have made employee training even more important today than it was in the past? For example, since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the training of airport security personnel has increased substantially. It has also increased for flight crews of airlines, employees in the transportation industry, workers in nuclear power plants, and even security staff at theme parks. Also, trends in the workforce itself affect a firm‘s training needs. As older workers near retirement, younger workers need to focus on gaining the skills and knowledge needed to take their place.

Increasing pace of technological change also makes training important today.

2. You have been asked by a colleague to teach her how to use Excel. How would you conduct a needs analysis to determine her current knowledge and skill level? The analyses made to determine the training needs include organizational analysis, task analysis, and person analysis. Once training needs are assessed, the next step is to design the environment necessary to enhance learning.

3. Suppose that you are the manager of an accounts receivable unit in a large company. You are switching to a new system of billing and record keeping and need to train your 3 supervisors and 28 employees in the new procedures. What training method(s) would you use? Why? Students will have different opinions about the best methods to use. One recommendation is that supervisors and employees be trained by using lectures and programmed instruction. Exercises in the new procedures should accompany the lectures.

4. Using the section on training methods, list all of those you have experienced. Prepare a grid, with the methods on one column and the four levels of evaluation on another. Rate each method as to its effectiveness in your reaction, learning, behaviour, and results, citing specific examples where possible. Students will have various responses to this question, given their experiences in being trained.

5. Team up with a classmate and design an orientation program for a new student to your school. Ensure that students incorporate information from Highlights in HRM 7.5: Checklist for Orienting New Employees in their orientation program.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Service at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler 1. Compare the Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s orientation program to the list of activities presented in Highlights in HRM 7.5. Would you add anything? The Fairmont Chateau Whistler‘s orientation program compares quite favourably to the checklist in the text.

2. The hospitality sector has high turnover rates among employees. Why does the hotel invest so much time, money, and energy into its orientation program? Though the hospitality

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sector has high turnover, the upscale hotels and resorts have no choice but to train their employees very well. Customers at upscale resorts expect high service levels, in part because they pay so much for the services, and the only way to get this is to invest in training.

3. Describe the activities in the orientation and training programs that would ensure a high degree of transfer of training to the job. High degrees of transfer of training to the job result with methods that are more hands-on and participative.

4. How would you measure the success of this program? What results criteria would you try to measure? Success of this program would best be measured with customer responses.

Case Study 2: People Development Strategies at Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan 1. Describe the advantages of the approach used to identify performance gaps. The advantages of using a competency model is that the competencies required are those necessary for the organization to achieve its business goals; this in turn allows individual employees to see how their own performance contributes to the company‘s success, which may contribute to enhanced employee motivation. Evaluating employee performance against the various levels within each of the competencies is an objective way of identifying individual performance gaps.

2. Why would managers resist or support this approach? Managers may resist this approach because it requires a considerable investment of their time and effort to evaluate each employee‘s performance against the competency expectations, to follow up with the proper planning for training or development, and to ensure that any training is subsequently applied on the job. Managers may support this approach because it provides them with a framework for conducting a performance conversation. Performance conversations are typically disliked and therefore avoided by managers. This is often a consequence of a lack of training and confidence in carrying them out. So they may relish this opportunity as it provides them with clear guidance on how to speak to employees about performance issues, and to discuss their performance in line with the organization‘s objectives. It also makes it less ―personal,‖ which may bring the relationship between the manager and employee closer. The anchors on the form will also provide management with a vocabulary to use when coaching employees to higher levels of performance.

3. Describe methods that you would use to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach by levels of learning, behaviour, and results. Level 2 (Learning) can be measured by simple pre- and post-tests, or can be measured by having the trainer ensure that each trainee displays their newly learned knowledge and skills to the trainer‘s satisfaction prior to the trainee being left alone at, or being sent back to, the job site. Control groups may be used as well to ensure that the learning did not take place due to some reason other than the training, but this method tends to be unwieldy in most settings. Level 3 (Behaviour) can be measured either by direct observation of the trainee back on the job, or through indirect monitoring, such as reviewing reject reports, customer complaints reports, or other volumeci Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

type records. Level 4 (Results) can be measured through periodic organizational reports, such as quarterly results or annual profit-loss statements. (However, without control groups, it is more difficult to ascribe longer-term organizational results directly to training, as other external or internal environmental factors may have contributed to or detracted from overall organization performance.)

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Case Study 3: Onboarding at Capital Power 1. Using the checklist in Highlights in HRM 7.5, compare the requirements for an orientation program to Capital Power‘s Strong Start program. What are the differences?

Welcome information outlining the company‘s background, corporate vision, and mission statement Map of facility, including parking information IDs, keys, and parking decals Current organization chart Information about where to find the firm‘s corporate news, intranet sites, and bulletin boards Telephone numbers, email addresses, and locations of key personnel Copy of employee‘s specific job goals and descriptions List of unique terms in the industry, company, and job Training class schedules Safety and emergency procedures The organization‘s policy handbook, including the firm‘s employment equity policies, office hours, dress code, vacation, and email and Internet-use rules List of employee benefits, including insurance plans Holiday schedule Ensure that employee has completed required paperwork, including benefit enrolment forms Revisit performance standards

Schedule first performance appraisal meeting

An executive discusses the vision and mission as part of the training + E-learning module, which includes this information as well Not mentioned, but new hire portal likely includes this information Not mentioned New hire portal likely includes this information New hire portal likely includes this information

New hire portal includes information relevant to the position E-learning module that outlines an employee developmental plan New hire portal likely includes this information Not mentioned, but likely in one of the online modules Perhaps in Capital Power 102 e-learning module Not explicitly mentioned, but may be in new hire portal

Not explicitly mentioned, but may be in new hire portal Not explicitly mentioned, but may be in new hire portal Not explicitly mentioned

The e-learning module provides the template for a 100day developmental plan that the new hire must create with the manager Must create developmental plan with manager, but no information on follow-up

2. Capital Power has evaluated its program. Using the four levels of evaluation, determine which levels were used. Prepare an evaluation program that will assess the goals of the program and the goals of onboarding outlined by Saks and Gruman. Reactions: There is no information on the reaction of trainees to the orientation itself. Learning: Employees have learned about the culture, given that they are aligned with it, and the case suggests that there has been a 30 percent increase in organizational knowledge. Behaviour: The case suggests that employees are more engaged as a result of the training. Results: The case suggests that there is a decrease in turnover; however, further examination of statistics is necessary to validate this claim. The study by Saks and Gruman highlights the importance ciii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

of fit with the job and organization, as well as the potential for employees to establish a social network. Capital Power does not assess fit, nor does it discuss the establishment of social networks for employees. A 1.5-day orientation would lead one to believe that social networks, at least among new hires, are being developed during orientation. That said, much of the training is done online, so fewer social networks are developed using this method.

Chapter 8: Performance Management If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Although performance evaluations are a task that many managers dislike, if done properly, they can serve to motivate employees and improve performance.

In order to conduct a useful performance evaluation, managers must link employees‘ work with the organizational goals, provide developmental feedback, and show employees how they can improve—all on a regular basis.

Learning outcomes 1. Explain what performance management is and how the establishment of goals, ongoing performance feedback, and the evaluation process are part of it.

2. Describe the different sources of performance management information.

3. Explain the various methods used to evaluate the performance of employees.

4. Outline the characteristics of effective performance review meetings and feedback sessions and ways in which the performance of employees can be improved.

Why is this chapter important?

A properly planned and effectively utilized performance evaluation program should contribute to improved employee performance. Performance evaluation is one of the functions that most concerns managers and about which they often have many questions. This chapter attempts to bring out the issues about which questions are frequently raised. It is important for students to realize that training employees will not eliminate many of the differences found among employees at the time they are hired. For this reason, performance evaluation should be viewed as one of the important HR functions that can contribute to the continuing development of the individual employee. The need for standards of satisfactory job performance should be emphasized, particularly in this era of downsizing and restructuring.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students,

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and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

 



Use Discussion Question 1 as a basis for a discussion about the difficulties in performance management: Eighty percent of Canadian organizations have performance appraisal systems. List some reasons why 20 percent would not choose to implement one. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Ask students whether they think that university professors provide ―performance evaluations‖ to students. Ask how their performance is evaluated. How often is it evaluated? Who does it? What are some of the challenges, and how can they be overcome?

Provide students with a copy of Case Study 2: Adobe Ditches Formal Performance Reviews—And Wants to Help Other Companies Do So Too. Generate some ideas on the board with students in responding to the discussion questions. As the lecture progresses, ask students to stop you when they think they have learned something that relates to the case. Add it to the board. You may need to do the first one yourself, or guide students a little at first. Later on, it becomes fun as students keep interrupting your lecture by insisting that more information be put on the board! See the recommended responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

YouTube Clip: Show students this video, which shows a snippet from the TV show Scrubs: youtube.com/watch?v=09bp__4Muh8&feature=related, and ask them to generate the problems with the performance evaluations, and how it might be better. The textbook provides key characteristics of effective feedback. Ensure that those are included in your take-up of the exercise.

Performance Management Systems  





Performance management is the process of creating a work environment in which people can perform to the best of their abilities to meet a company‘s goals.

Performance reviews are the result of a process by which a manager evaluates an employee‘s performance relative to the requirements of his or her job, the goals set with his or her manager, and then uses the information to show the person where improvements can be made and how. The reviews are a tool organizations can use to develop employees.

Performance reviews are also referred to as performance appraisals and performance evaluations.

Connectivity Question: You might compare a performance review to taking a test in college. Do tests motivate you? Do they make you want to truly excel, or do you just want to get through them? Now compare your test-taking experience with an experience in which your instructor talked to you about your career plans, complimented you on your performance, and offered you suggestions for improving it. That probably had a greater motivating effect on you.

Use Figure 8.1: Steps in the Performance Management Process to illustrate the steps.

The Purposes of Performance Management

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



Remind students of the mantra ―what gets measured gets done.‖ Tell them about research, which shows that organizations with strong performance management systems are 40 to 50 percent more likely to outperform their competitors, and good feedback leads to higher levels of employee engagement.

Use Figure 8.2: Purposes of Performance Reviews to review the two purposes of performance evaluations—developmental and administrative.

Why Performance Management Systems Sometimes Fail Share some of the facts: 

According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, only half of HR professionals say annual performance reviews are an accurate appraisal of an employee‘s performance.



Employees and managers alike often dread appraisals, and complain that they are time consuming and ineffective.  Only one in five employees believes it helps poorly performing employees do better.  Some believe that they discourage teamwork.  Some believe that reviews are useful only at the extremes—for very high or very low performers.  Some believe that they focus on short-term achievements, rather than long-term goals and learning.

Use Figure 8.3: Let Me Count the Ways … Reasons Why Performance Reviews Can Fail to outline some of the main reasons why performance evaluation systems often fail.

Developing an Effective Performance Management System What Are the Performance Standards?

Performance standards should be based on job-related requirements derived from a job analysis and reflected in an employee‘s job description and job specifications. SMART goals are goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based.

Use Figure 8.4: Establishing Performance Standards to show that there are four basic considerations in establishing performance standards:  Strategic Relevance refers to the extent to which the standards relate to the strategic objectives of the organization in which they are applied.  Criterion deficiency refers to the extent to which the standards capture the entire range of an employee‘s responsibilities.  Criterion contamination refers to the extent to which the standards are factors outside an employee‘s control.  Reliability refers to the stability or consistency of a standard, or to the extent to which individuals tend to maintain a certain level of performance over time. Interrater reliability is also important here if there are more than two people rating an employee‘s performance.

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

Mini Field Trip: Use Discussion Question 2 regarding rating fast-food service at places such as Tim Hortons as the basis for a mini field trip, or ask students to complete this exercise after class and post their thoughts on the online discussion board, or take it up in the following class.

Fairness and Acceptability One of the main concerns employees have about performance management systems relates to fairness.  Call-Out Question: What influence does ―politics‖ play in the performance review process?

Legal Issues The textbook provides several recommendations that are based on court rulings (e.g., performance ratings must be job related; employees must be given a written copy of their job standards in advance of reviews; supervisors must be trained; an appeals process should be in place).

Sources of Performance Review Information Use Figure 8.5: Alternative Sources of Review to examine the alternative sources of review: manager and/or supervisor, self, subordinate, peer, team, and customer. 

Think-Pair-Share: Put students into groups and assign each group one source of evaluation. Ask students to generate at least two advantages and two disadvantages to their assigned focus. Ask students to write them on the board and review their work to make sure it is complete.

Putting It All Together: 360-Degree Evaluations Use Figure 8.6: Pros and Cons of 360-Degree Evaluation to discuss the pluses and minuses of 360-degree evaluation. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Reality Check: Canadian Tire 360-Degree Matrix to examine the actual form used by Canadian Tire‘s evaluation system for its executives.

Training Appraisers (a) Establishing a Review Plan This systematic process covers (1) the objectives of the performance evaluation system, (2) the purpose for which the evaluation is used, and (3) the mechanics of the rating system (including frequency of evaluations, who will conduct the evaluations, and the standards of performance). (b) Eliminating Rating Errors Distributional Error  An error of central tendency is a performance rating error in which all employees are rated about average.

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   

Leniency or strictness error is a performance rating error in which the appraiser tends to give employees either unusually high or unusually low ratings.

Forced distribution is a technique that some organizations use to eliminate these types of errors. However, the result may be a distribution that is more distorted than the original.

A variation of this is peer ranking, which is a system whereby employees in a work group are ranked against one another from best to worst.

Behavioural anchors may be a more effective approach to minimizing distributional errors.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Refer to The Business Case: Rank and Yank to show students that ranking systems can lead to legal problems, and should be avoided.

Temporal (Recency) Error  Temporal( recency) error is a performance rating error in which the evaluation is based largely on the employee‘s most recent behaviour rather than throughout the evaluation period.  Contrast error is a performance rating error in which an employee‘s evaluation is biased either upward or downward because of comparison to another employee‘s performance, evaluated just previously.  Similar-to-me error is a performance rating error in which an appraiser inflates the evaluation of an employee because of a mutual personal connection.  Discuss how various stereotypes held toward visible minorities, the disabled, Aboriginal people, and women may affect their performance review.

Feedback Training  A training program for raters should teach managers how to provide feedback. Make corrections immediately. Use Highlights in HRM 8.1: Supervisor’s Checklist for the Performance Review Meeting to show how supervisors can be assisted in preparing for evaluation interviews. 

YouTube video clip: In this 2-minute video clip, the actor demonstrates how not to run an effective performance review. There are at least 20 different errors that are made— tell students this, and ask them: How many errors can you spot? The video clip is posted here: youtube.com/watch?v=Jln-liAnN8Y.

Performance Review Methods 

Call-Out Question: As an employee, would you rather be evaluated on your personality traits, your on-the-job behaviours, or the results that you get?

Trait Methods Graphic Rating Scale Model  Use Highlights in HRM 8.2: Graphic Rating Scale with Provision for Comments to show an example of the graphic rating scale method.

Mixed-Standard Scale Model

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

See an example of the mixed-standard scale method in Highlights in HRM 8.3: Example of a Mixed-Standard Scale.

Forced-Choice Method  Forced-choice pairs might include the following: 1. a) Works hard

b) Works quickly

2. a) Shows initiative

b) Is responsive to customers

3. a) Work is reliable

b) Performance is good

Essay Method  This is a trait approach to performance rating that requires the rater to write a statement describing an employee‘s behaviour.

Behavioural Methods Critical Incident Method  Connectivity Activity: Ask students to generate a list of favourable and unfavourable critical incidents of students‘ behaviour in their various classes (without names). Explain that those incidents could be collated into one list, and then the rater (or professor) could rate the frequency with which each student behaved in those ways to inform the evaluation of performance.

Behavioural Checklist Method Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) Behaviour Observation Scales (BOS) 

Highlights in HRM 8.4: BARS and BOS Examples provides an example of a behaviourally anchored rating scale for firefighters.



Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Questions 3 and 4: 3. Develop a 10-item checklist to be used to rate student behaviour (e.g., Always submits assignments on time.) Rate your own behaviour against this list. Then ask friends and family members to rate your behaviour. Are there differences? If so, how would you explain them? 4. Take two of the items from question 3 and develop a BARS for each of these items. Then rate yourself and ask others to rate you using the BARS. Did the ratings change? If so, why?

See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Results Methods Productivity Measures  Call-Out Question: Refer students to the four criteria that are used to generate performance standards (Figure 8.4). Ask them whether productivity measures satisfy all cix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

of those criteria. There are a number of potential problems with output measures, for example, criteria contamination and criteria deficiency, which fosters the attitude that ―what gets measured gets done.‖ Management by Objectives  Figure 8.7: Performance Appraisal under an MBO Program illustrates how performance evaluation functions with an MBO program. 

Small Group Discussion: Ask the class if anyone has worked or is currently working under an MBO system. Have students explain the MBO process at their organizations.

Refer students to goal-setting theory, which is the basis for MBO, and then generate the factors that make MBO successful (e.g., managers and employees must be willing to establish goals and objectives together; the objectives should be quantifiable and measurable for the long and short terms; the results that are expected must be under the employee‘s control; the goals and objectives must be consistent for each employee level; managers and employees must establish specific times when the goals are to be reviewed and evaluated).

The Balanced Scorecard  The balanced scorecard (BSC) has four evaluation categories: (1) financial, (2) customer, (3) processes, and (4) learning. Use Highlights in HRM 8.5: Personal Scorecard to show an example of how a BSC translates to a personal scorecard for an employee.  Connectivity Individual Assignment: Ask students to develop their own Personal Scorecard for the rest of their time at college/university.

Which Performance Evaluation Method Should You Use?  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to get into groups and generate the advantages and disadvantages of the trait, behavioural, and results methods. Use Figure 8.8: A Summary of Various Evaluation Methods to take it up.

Performance Review Meetings and Feedback Sessions Types of Performance Review Meetings and Feedback Sessions  Tell-and-Sell—The supervisor uses persuasion; this requires a manager to skillfully use motivational and persuasive techniques to try to change the behaviour.  Tell-and-Listen—The interviewer communicates the strong and weak points of an employee‘s job performance. During the second half of the interview, the employee‘s feelings about the interview are thoroughly explored while the employee is encouraged to speak freely and to listen closely to what the appraiser has to say.  Problem-Solving—The supervisor employs skills in listening, accepting, and responding to feelings. The supervisor seeks to stimulate growth and development in the employee by discussing the problems, needs, innovations, satisfactions, and dissatisfactions the employee has encountered on the job since the last evaluation.

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Feedforward: Use Highlights in HRM 8.6: The Feed Forward Performance Evaluation Interview to explain the feedforward performance evaluation interview technique.

Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to get into pairs and answer the following questions: (a) What different skills are required for each type of evaluation interview? What reactions can one expect from using these different skills? (b) How can one develop the skills needed for the problem-solving type of interview? (c) Which method do you feel is the least desirable? Why? (a) The tell-and-sell method requires the ability to persuade an individual to change in the prescribed manner. The tell-and-listen method requires the ability to communicate the strong and weak points of a subordinate‘s performance, and to explore the subordinate‘s feelings about the evaluation. The problem-solving method requires the ability to stimulate growth and development through discussion.

Several reactions can be expected from using the different methods. Tell-and-sell: defensive behaviour is suppressed and attempts are made to cover hostility. Tell-andlisten: defensive behaviour is expressed and the employee feels accepted. (b) Problem solving: problem-solving behaviour. The skills for the problem-solving type of interview can be developed by first adopting the attitude that through discussion, new ideas and mutual interests may be developed. Training and practice in listening and reflecting feelings, reflecting ideas, using exploratory questions, and summarizing are essential. (c) Probably most students will agree that the tell-and-sell method is the least desirable because it leads to suppressed defensive behaviour and feelings of hostility.

Individual Assignment: Require students to read and summarize an article published in Human Resource Management by Budworth et al. (2015) on feedforward. Ask students to summarize, in their own words, the theory, methods, results, and practical implications in the article. See Recommended Reading for a full reference.

Conducting the Performance Review Meeting or Feedback Session Good practice performance reviews should include the following:  Ask for a Self-Evaluation—This gets employees thinking about their performance and assures that they know the standards against which they will be evaluated; it leads to greater employee satisfaction since he or she can observe the procedural justice.  Invite Participation— Communication is a two-way street. Participation helps bring out some of the root causes of performance problems and may increase an employee‘s satisfaction with the process.  Express Appreciation—Praise is a powerful motivator, particularly in an evaluation interview where the employee is seeking positive feedback. It is beneficial to start the evaluation interview by expressing appreciation for what the employee has done well.  Be Supportive and Demonstrate That You Care—The manager can convey to the employee that he or she will try to eliminate roadblocks and will work with the employee to achieve a higher standard of performance.  Minimize Criticism—Criticism leads to defensiveness, and this may hurt the chances of solving the problem. Some tips for using constructive criticism include the following:  Consider whether it‘s really necessary.  Consider the person‘s ability to handle it.  Be specific and don‘t exaggerate. cxi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.





 Watch your timing.  Make improvement your goal.

Establish Goals—Focus on the future.  Emphasize strengths.  Drop unproductive tasks.  Limit improvement plans.  Highlight how both the employee and firm will excel if the goals are achieved.

Follow Up Day to Day 

Small Group Discussion: Ask students whether setting goals can be detrimental to performance. Use Ethics in HRM: Stretch Goals to form the basis of a discussion on the political games in establishing goals. Ask students to read and comment whether they would find a model of continuous feedback useful, as discussed in Highlights in HRM 8.7: Continuous Feedback, Please.

Improving Performance Identifying the Sources of Ineffective Performance  Use Figure 8.9: Factors That Affect an Employee’s Performance to talk about the major causes of ineffective job performance, broken into three categories: (1) ability, (2) motivation, and (3) environment.

Performance Diagnosis  If someone is not achieving the desired results, it may be due to factors beyond his or her control. 

Connectivity Activity: Ask students to imagine that a member of your study team usually misses the deadline for submitting his part of the assignment. Ask students to think about reasons why. Use Figure 8.10: Performance Diagnosis to discuss causes of an employee‘s poor performance.

Managing Ineffective Performance  Think-Pair-Share: Use HRM Experience: Performance Diagnosis to discuss potential causes and solutions for poor performance. See the sample solutions in the HRM Experience section.

Focus on Changing the Behaviour, Not the Person Do not make suggestions about personal traits employees should change. Suggest more acceptable ways of performing. If the ineffective performance persists, it may be necessary to transfer the employee, take disciplinary action, or discharge the person from the organization.

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Finishing Class    

 

Use Case Study 2: Adobe Ditches Formal Performance Reviews—and Wants to Help Other Companies Do So Too for a good review of major content areas of the chapter. See the suggested responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Use the Small Business Application: Does a Small Business Need to Formally Evaluate Its Employees to bring some of the topics covered in the lecture together.

In-Class Exercise: Draw from Paglis‘s (2008) article to help students understand how managers‘ perceptions shape judgments they make about why employees perform poorly and how those judgments affect managers‘ responses. It is a two-part exercise that tends to focus a bit on organizational behaviour theories, such as attribution theory and confirmation bias. See Recommended Reading for a full reference to this article.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading  Budworth, M. H., Latham, G.P. & Manroop, L. (2015). Looking forward to performance improvement: a field test of the feedforward interview for performance management.

Human Resources Management, 54(1), 45–54.  Paglis, L.L. (2008). The ―It‘s Not My Fault!‖ exercise: Exploring the causes and consequences of managers‘ explanations for poor performance. Journal of Management Education, 32(5), 613–628.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Eighty percent of Canadian organizations have performance evaluation systems. List some reasons why 20 percent would not choose to implement one. Organizations that do not have evaluation systems might believe some of these reasons to be preventing them from doing so: (a) lack of resources (time, human power, budget); (b) they do not see the relevance of evaluation as a means of improving performance; (c) they communicate well with employees and give regular, informal reviews, so an evaluation system would be duplicating this effort; (d) they lack the training to do an evaluation review; (e) the organizational structure is based on teams and, therefore, the team members will selfevaluate; (f) employees are empowered and, therefore, they will set their own performance goals; (g) the organization is too small.

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2. Develop a list of the characteristics of effective service for fast-food servers at places such as Tim Hortons. Over your next five visits, rate the servers against the criteria that you have developed. Did your criteria meet the performance standards of relevance and reliability, or were they subject to criterion deficiency or contamination? Students should visit a Tim Hortons and observe what the fast-food servers‘ job functions are. Based on observation, students should develop a list of characteristics of effective service (approximately 8 criteria). Discussion should take place in groups of three to four in class.

3. Develop a 10-item checklist to be used to rate student behaviour (e.g., Always submits assignments on time). Rate your own behaviour against this list. Then ask friends and family members to rate your behaviour. Are there differences? If so, how would you explain them? Students should develop a 10-item checklist in groups of three or four. Then students individually should ask friends/family members to rate their behaviour. Discussion of responses can be done in class.

4. Take two of the items from question 3 and develop a BARS for each of these items. Then rate yourself and ask others to rate you using the BARS. Did the ratings change? If so, why? Research examples of different behaviourally anchored rating scales for further discussion in class.

5. Think of a friend or a family member whose behaviour you wish to change (e.g., your friend is usually late for events that you have organized). Using the problem-solving interview and the suggestions for conducting an effective appraisal interview, provide appraisal feedback to your friend. Demonstrate this question through a role-play in class.

Some additional benign examples that can be used are nail-biting, sleeping in, lack of exercise, and so on. Students will see how difficult it is to change behaviours that lead to potentially improved performance.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: “Project Oxygen” Resuscitates Google’s Poor-Performing Bosses 1. Why isn’t having the greatest amount of technical expertise the key to being a good supervisor at Google? Being a ―manager‖ requires a very different set of competencies than being a technical expert in an organization such as Google. In this blog on Harvard Business Review (hbr.org/2014/07/the-skills-leaders-need-at-every-level), the authors compiled a dataset in which they asked 332 860 bosses, peers, and subordinates what skills have the greatest impact on a leader‘s success in the position the respondents currently hold. They found similar results to the case. But they extend it in an important way by showing that the competencies that are needed differ depending on the hierarchical level. At middle management positions, problem solving is very important, whereas at senior positions, communication is relatively more important.

Highlight to students that technical experts are often promoted because they have the recognized KSAs in their field; however, a potential problem arises because they don‘t cxiv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

necessarily have management skills, and many organizations offer little support to new managers. That‘s why organizations need to engage in training and development for their future talent. This is a great segue way to the next lesson on training and development.

2. Does Google’s research on the performance of its managers surprise you? Why or why not? Depending on the maturity/experience of the students, it may or may not surprise them. Some students might think that Google‘s research did not surprise them considering their high turnover rate despite providing many job perks. It was also said that the primary reason for people leaving their jobs was their boss. Google‘s researchers wanted to find out what works for them compared to other organizations.

Perhaps an extension question here is how students can prepare themselves now to become both a technical expert and an effective manager.

Case Study 2: Adobe Ditches Formal Performance Reviews—and Wants to Help Other Companies Do So Too 1. Why did Adobe need a new performance management system? What drawbacks might there be to the company’s check-ins? Problems with the traditional system of reviews included the following: (1) Workers didn‘t feel the reviews were helpful. (2) Workers prefer feedback in the moment. (3) Reviews were stressful. (4) Many workers looked for a new job after a review. (5) Two-thirds of millennials preferred jobs without reviews. Students‘ answer about problems with check-ins will vary. The long-term effect is not known. For example, career planning within a company might be affected.

2. Are formal performance reviews always bad? Why or why not? Formal performance reviews are not always bad. They document a worker‘s ability and progress over an extended period of time.

Chapter 9: Managing Compensation If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Setting a wage that is fair and motivational requires an analysis of both internal and external factors.

There are a number of ways to collect data and information to assist in setting wages, including job evaluation methods and conducting wage surveys.

Learning outcomes 1. Distinguish a strategic compensation program from one that is nonstrategic.

2. Discuss the various factors that influence the setting of wages.

3. Determine how to design pay systems.

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4. Identify the major provisions of the laws and regulations affecting compensation.

5. Discuss the current issues of equal pay for work of equal value and pay compression.

Why is this chapter important?

An organization‘s pay system is important for a number of reasons. Among others things, it helps organizations to attract and retain top talent and motivate employees; it is also crucial in driving employees‘ behaviours that are pivotal to achieving strategic objectives. An organization‘s pay systems also send important signals on its values. So why focus on compensation? Why not better select employees who will be more loyal? Why not improve the training programs or evaluation systems? The answer is simple. Compensation is directly linked to an employee‘s livelihood. Employees can receive stellar training, copious growth opportunities, and be completely satisfied with their work and the environment, but they will not show up to work if there is no paycheque in return.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

 

Collect all of the key terms in the textbook (see sidebars). Write each key term on one piece of paper, and the definition of each on another piece of paper. Distribute to students in the class. Students need to find their ―other pair‖ by matching up the term with their respective definition.

Focus this class on job evaluation methods and use Mahajan‘s (2012) exercise to provide students with an opportunity to evaluate jobs and determine compensation. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Provide the example of Google in the preamble to this chapter to show the relevance of this topic to organizations today. In 2011, Google gave all of its employees a 10 percent raise. The company-wide pay boost, spread across 20 300 employees, probably cost the company $1 billion a year. In an email to employees, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt explained that they have received feedback that salary is more important than other sources of pay (i.e., bonuses and stock in the company). Schmidt explained that even in a slowed-down economy, they are in a ―war for talent‖ and that employees had expressed concerns ―dealing with sky-high property prices, mortgages, and those kinds of things.‖ But ultimately, Schmidt stated, the primary reason for the raise was that ―we just thought it was good for the whole company!‖

What Is Compensation?

Compensation has three components: (1) Direct compensation: employee wages and salaries, incentives, bonuses, and commissions; (2) Indirect compensation: benefits supplied by cxvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

employers; and (3) Nonfinancial compensation: employee recognition programs, rewarding jobs, organizational support, work environment, and flexible work hours.

Strategic Compensation Share with students that strategic compensation is the compensation of employees in ways that enhance motivation and growth while at the same time aligning their efforts with the objectives, philosophies, and culture of the organization.  Call-Out Question: How are employees compensated in organizations for their hard work and the talents that they bring to the table? Write the ideas on the board, and categorize them into three segments: direct (e.g., wages, incentives, bonuses, commissions), indirect (e.g., benefits), and non-financial (e.g., rewarding jobs, work environment, flexible hours) rewards.  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to discuss whether compensation systems should differ depending upon the company‘s objectives. Ask students to provide an example to illustrate their ideas.

Linking Compensation to Organizational Objectives Highlight that this is a pressing issue facing organizations today in light of recent scandals.  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 1 as the basis for this think-pair-share: Nurses at Adelphi Hospital, located in British Columbia, have been quitting their jobs for more lucrative deals in the United States. The hospital’s administration would like to pursue a coherent strategy that would address not only its compensation issues but also patient care and overall client satisfaction. Suggest different compensation objectives to match Adelphi’s goals. See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Motivating Employees through Compensation: Theoretical Explanations  Equity Theory: Use Figure 9.1: Relationship between Equity and Motivation to explain equity theory.  Expectancy Theory  Connectivity Activity: Ask students to evaluate their motivation for studying Human Resource Management using expectancy theory (i.e., Do you believe that your effort leads to performance? Do you believe that your performance leads to desired rewards?)

The Bases for Compensation Explain to students the difference between salaried and hourly paid workers.  Individual or Team Assignment: Ask students to conduct Internet research to find out how executive compensation influenced or was influenced by the financial crisis. 

Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to discuss Ethics in HRM: Executive Pay, and make a list of the challenges organizations face in fixing CEO pay.

Determining Compensation—The Wage Mix cxvii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Use Figure 9.2: Factors Affecting the Pay Mix to illustrate the factors that affect the pay mix. 

In-Class Exercise: Use Renard‘s (2008) exercise published in the Journal of Management Education to illustrate the factors that influence pay; this exercise also fits nicely in teaching about equity theory. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Internal Factors a) Compensation Strategy  Call-Out Question: Ask students to generate criteria that would be necessary in developing a compensation policy in an organization. These criteria can include the following: to reward employees‘ past performance; to remain competitive in the labour market; to maintain salary equity among employees; to mesh employees‘ future performance with organizational goals; to control the compensation budget; to attract new employees; to reduce unnecessary turnover, etc. Then show them Highlights in HRM 9.1: Comparison of Compensation Strategies.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Highlights in HRM 9.1: Comparison of Compensation Strategies to compare the compensation strategies of Tri Star Performance with Preventive Health Care. b) Worth of a Job – subjective opinions of people familiar with the jobs when there is no formal compensation program.  Call-Out Question: What factors might job experts take into consideration when discerning the worth of a job? Answers may include condition of the labour market, collective bargaining, job evaluation systems (give a preview of what is to come in this lecture), and the strategic nature of the job in the organization. c) Employee’s Relative Worth—merit raises on the basis of steps within a rate range established for a job class. d) Employer’s Ability to Pay  Call-Out Question: Ask students to identify specific organizations or industries in which employers have greater or lesser abilities to grant pay increases.  Small Group Discussion/Review: Use Discussion Question 2 as a basis for this small group discussion to ensure that students have learned this material: Discuss how factors internal to the organization may affect compensation levels and the wage mix. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

External Factors a) Labour Market Conditions b) Area Wage Rates  Connectivity Exercise: Collect several examples of local or area wage surveys for discussion purposes. Wage survey data can be obtained from the Conference Board of Canada. c) Cost of Living  The consumer price index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed ―market basket‖ of goods and services.  Escalator clauses are clauses in collective agreements that provide for quarterly costof-living adjustments (COLAs) in wages based on changes in the CPI. cxviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

d) Collective Bargaining  Real wages are wage increases that are larger than the increase in the CPI, i.e., the real earning power of wages.  Small Group Exercise or Homework Assignment: Use HRM Experience: Why This Salary? in class, and ask students to respond to the first and third questions. For a homework exercise, ask them to complete all three questions.  Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Pay Decisions at University Health Foods on Wheels to put students in the situation of determining the pay for a new position at a small organization.  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to rank order the importance of internal and external factors in determining compensation. Ask them whether they think that enough time is being devoted to compensation in organizations today. Finally, ask students the circumstances under which they would be willing to be under-compensated.

Job Evaluation Systems Job evaluation is the systematic process of determining the relative worth of jobs to establish which jobs should be paid more than others in the organization. It helps establish internal equity, yet each method requires judgment.  Explain the five ways to evaluate jobs: 1. Job Ranking System—All jobs are ranked by one individual or a committee into a hierarchy of jobs. Rankings are based on some critical factor to job success (e.g., responsibility), or rankings can be based on the total importance of the job to the organization. There are three disadvantages to the job ranking system: (a) The basic disadvantage is that this system does not provide a very precise measure of a job‘s worth. (b) The final ranking indicates the relative importance of the job, not the difference in the degree of importance between jobs. (c) This system can only be used with a small number of jobs, probably not more than 15.

2. Job Classification System—Jobs are classified and grouped according to a series of predetermined wage grades. Each grade requires more job responsibility, skill, knowledge, ability, etc. Once the grades are defined, a job is slotted into a grade by comparing the individual job description to the grade descriptions.

3. Point System (including the Point Manual)—This quantitative job evaluation procedure determines the relative value of a job by the total points assigned to it. Points are assigned to jobs based on the degree to which jobs possess different compensable factors. The major compensable factors are skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. These factors are subdivided into degrees. 

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: Provide examples of the point system by using Highlights in HRM 9.2: Sample Rating Chart of Point Method Job Evaluation, and Highlights in HRM 9.3: Sample of Compensable Factor Showing Degrees, which is used by the American Association of Industrial Management.

Case Study: Use Case Study 2: Job Evaluations at CBC/Radio-Canada as a basis for discussion in class. See the recommended solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

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4. Work Valuation—This job evaluation system seeks to measure a job‘s worth through its value to the organization. Work should be valued relative to the business goals of the organization rather than by an internally applied point-factor job evaluation system.

This system creates a work hierarchy that is an array of work by value to the organization. The work hierarchy is priced through wage surveys to determine individual pay rates.

5. Job Evaluation for Management Positions, e.g., Hay Profile Method—This system uses three factors—knowledge, mental activity, and accountability—to evaluate executive managerial positions. 

Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 3 to ensure that students have learned the above-mentioned materials: What is job evaluation? Explain the differences between the major job evaluation systems, noting the advantages and disadvantages of each. Alternatively, do not teach these job evaluation tools in a lecture format, but rather ask students to look in the textbook and answer the questions themselves. Then have students present to one another. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

The Compensation Structure 

Explain that job evaluation systems provide for internal equity and serve as a basis for wage rate determination. However, they do not themselves determine the wage rate.

Wage and Salary Surveys  The tool used to help set wages is the wage and salary survey. The survey data can be collected internally, or external consultancies conduct the surveys (e.g., Watson Wyatt).  

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Highlights in HRM 9.4: Compensation Surveys for HR and Accounting Professionals in Canada.

The textbook reviews the steps that organizations should take if they wish to collect their own data.

The Wage Curve  Explain to students that the wage curve is the relationship between the relative worth of jobs and their wage rates. o Use Figure 9.3: Freehand Wage Curve to illustrate a hypothetical wage curve.

Pay Grades  Define pay grades, and mention to students that when a point system of job evaluation is used, pay grades are established at selected intervals. o Use Figure 9.4: Wage Structure with Increasing Rate Ranges to illustrate a series of pay grades designated along the horizontal axis at 50-point intervals.

Rate Ranges  Explain that organizations typically provide rate ranges for each pay grade.

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

Define broadbanding as the collapse of traditional salary grades into a few wide salary bands.

Competency-Based Pay  Explain the limitations of the job-based approach to compensation, and discuss the competency-based pay approach to compensation. Competency-based pay, also referred to as skill-based pay or knowledge-based pay, compensates employees for the different skills or increased knowledge they possess, rather than for the job they hold in a designated job category. Discuss the benefits and challenges with this approach as well. 

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Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to write down their competencies, and then put a price tag on them. How much would their compensation be? What information would they gather to determine their compensation? Is competency-based pay realistic for large organizations or better suited for smaller ones?

Clickers: Check for learning by creating a multiple-choice style quiz to see whether students have learned the definition of each of the key terms above; if you don‘t have clickers, ask students to raise their hands when you call out the correct answer.

Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 4: What are pay grades and pay ranges? In a step-by-step manner, discuss how an organization’s wage structure is determined. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Government Regulation of Compensation 

Call-Out Question: Why do we need laws to help determine employees‘ pay?

Shouldn‘t the employer be allowed total freedom in deciding pay?

Explain to students that along with federal legislation, each province has an employment standards act that establishes minimum requirements with respect to wages, hours of work, and overtime. Regulation for compensation in Canada includes the following:  The Canada Labour Code  Employment Standards Legislation  Other legislation—Refer to employment equity and pay equity legislation brought up in Chapter 3. 

Individual or Team Assignment: Use Discussion Question 5 as a homework assignment: Laws governing compensation raise important issues for both employers and employees.

Discuss the following: (a) the effect of mandatory overtime; (b) the effects of raising the minimum wage; (c) pay equity: is it needed? Ask students to read one of the academic publications in Recommended Reading, and respond to one of the questions in Discussion Question 5. See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Significant Compensation Issues Pay Equity: Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value

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Institutionalized sex discrimination causes women to receive lower pay for jobs that may be different from but comparable in worth to those performed by men.  Small Group Assignment: Ask students to generate a list of ―male-dominated jobs‖ and ―female-dominated jobs.‖ Then, ask students to go to workopolis.ca to see whether they can find some of these jobs, and document the salary for each. In Excel, they should report the correlation coefficient between gender and the mean level of salary offered for male-type versus female-type jobs.  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 6: The Pay Equity Commission proposes three methods to make pay equity comparisons: • the job-to-job comparison method • the proportional value comparison method • the proxy comparison method Read about these methods at http://www.payequity.gov.on.ca/en/tools/Pages/plan_sample.aspx and at http://www.payequity.gov.on.ca/en/tools/Pages/guide_to_act11.aspx. What are some of the problems of developing a pay system based on each method? See the recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Measuring Comparability  Call-Out Question: Some people contend that an organization cannot compare jobs in different fields (such as a painter versus a nurse) for pay equity purposes, as these jobs are inherently different. What are your thoughts? Then use Figure 9.5: How Can You Compare Apples and Oranges? or the analogy that it provides to explain how difficult it is to compare jobs.  

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Reality Check: Pay Equity to outline some of the issues that face pay equity specialists.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: The Business Case: Cashing Out describes two large settlements that have resulted from pay equity issues.

The Issue of Wage-Rate Compression  Wage-rate compression is the compression of differentials between job classes, particularly the differential between hourly workers and their managers.  Refer to equity theory since wage-rate compression is an internal equity concern, which if not addressed fairly, can cause low morale, higher absenteeism and turnover, and even employee theft.

Finishing Class   

Administer copies of Small Business Application. Ask students whether they would forego income for learning opportunities.

Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

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Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics. Remind students that they will not be able to work without making contributions to discussions.

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Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading 

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Beckers, D.G.J., van der Linden, D., Smulders, P.G.W., Kompler, M.A.J., Taris, T.W., & Geurts, S.A.E. (2008). Voluntary or involuntary? Control over overtime and rewards for overtime in relation to fatigue and work satisfaction. Work, Employment and Society, 22(1), 33–50.

Berg, P., & Frost, A. (2005). Dignity at work for low wage, low skill service workers.

Relations Industrielles, 60(4), 657–680.

Burkauser, R.V., Couch, K.A., Wittenburg, D.C. (1996). ―Who Gets What‖ from Minimum Wage Hikes: A Re-Estimation of Card and Krueger‘s Distributional Analysis in Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 49(3), 547–552.

Mahajan, A. (2012). An experiential approach to developing a pay structure: Insights from teaching compensation management. The International Journal of Management Education, 10, 2–11.

Renard, M. (2008). It‘s all about the money: Chris and Pat compare salaries. Journal of Management Education, 32(2), 248–261.

Whitehouse, G. (2002). Recent trends in pay equity: Beyond aggregate statistics. The Journal of Industrial Relations, 43(1), 66–78.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Nurses at Adelphi Hospital, in British Columbia, have been quitting their jobs for more lucrative deals in the United States. The hospital’s administration would like to pursue a coherent strategy that would not only address its compensation issues but also patient care and overall client satisfaction. Suggest different compensation objectives to match Adelphi’s goals. Compensation objectives include policies reflecting (1) the internal wage relationship among jobs and skill levels; (2) the external competition or an employer‘s pay position relative to what competitors are paying; (3) a policy of rewarding employee performance; and (4) administrative decisions concerning elements of the pay system, such as overtime premiums, payment periods, and short-term or long-term incentives. In this case, objectives (2) and (4) may be the most important, given the fact that nurses are leaving Canada for the United States. However, since hospitals in Canada are publicly owned, it is more difficult to compete with privately owned U.S. counterparts. Therefore, they may wish to focus on (1) and (3), as well as provide other intrinsic motivators for performance and retention.

2. Discuss how factors internal to the organization may affect compensation levels and the wage mix. There are four issues to discuss: a. Employer’s Compensation Strategy—The wages and salaries received by employees will be determined, in part, by the employer‘s compensation policy. Some employers may wish to be a wage leader in the area or industry, while others may desire to pay cxxiv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

average wages or to be a wage follower. Employers should set pay policies reflecting: (i) the internal wage relationship among jobs and skill levels; (ii) the external competition or an employer‘s pay position relative to what competitors are paying; (iii) a policy of rewarding employee performance; (iv) administrative decisions concerning elements of the pay system such as overtime premiums, payment periods, and short-term or long-term incentives. b. Worth of a Job—Organizations generally base the worth of jobs on the subjective opinions of people familiar with the jobs when there is no formal compensation program.

Job evaluation is used when a formal compensation program exists in order to aid rate determination. Compensation professionals believe that the worth of a job should be based on more than market prices or using only an internally driven job evaluation program. A job‘s value should be based on the total value delivered to an organization. c. Employee’s Relative Worth—Employee performance can be recognized and rewarded through promotion and with various incentive systems. Superior performance can be rewarded by granting merit raises on the basis of steps within a rate range established for a job class. Sometimes, merit raises are automatic and thus result in a lack of motivation, especially when the budget is low. d. Employer’s Ability to Pay—Pay levels are limited to earned profit and other financial resources available to employers. Organizations with huge financial burdens may ask their employees to take pay cuts. An organization‘s ability to pay is based on employee productivity, the investments in labour-saving equipment, and the number of employees required to perform the job.

3. What is job evaluation? Explain the differences between the major job evaluation systems, noting the advantages and disadvantages of each. Job evaluation is the systematic analysis of jobs in order to determine the relative value of each job in relation to all other jobs within the organization. Job evaluation seeks to establish internal equity among various jobs. The two non-quantitative approaches to job evaluation are the ranking method and the classification method. The ranking method compares jobs to each other to obtain a simple rank order of jobs from lowest to highest. Jobs are compared to each other based on some criteria (e.g., responsibility), or on the jobs as a whole. The classification method slots jobs into predetermined grades. Written ―grade descriptions‖ are created by identifying some common denominator(s) (e.g., skills, knowledge, etc.). Higher grades are written as having more of the significant denominator(s). The two quantitative job evaluation methods are the point method and the factor comparison method. The point method evaluates jobs by breaking jobs down into agreed upon compensable factors (e.g., responsibility, skill, effort, and working conditions), and then allocating points to each of these criteria. Weights can be assigned to these factors depending on their importance to the organization or jobs. Jobs are evaluated by comparing their content to the compensable factors, thereby obtaining a total point score for each job. Jobs with similar total points are grouped together into pay grades.

4. What are pay grades and pay ranges? In a step-by-step manner, discuss how an organization’s wage structure is determined. Pay grades are groups of jobs within a particular class that are paid at the same rate. When the classification system of job

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evaluation is used, jobs are grouped into grades as part of the evaluation process. When the point system is used, pay grades must be established at selected intervals that represent either the point or the evaluated monetary value of these jobs. Generally, organizations provide a range of rates for each pay grade. The rate ranges may be the same for each grade or proportionately greater for each successive grade. Rate ranges generally are divided into a series of steps that permit employees to receive increases up to the maximum rate for the range on the basis of merit or seniority, or a combination of the two. Most salary structures provide for the ranges of adjoining pay grades to overlap. The purpose of the overlap is to permit an employee with experience to earn as much as or more than a person with less experience in the next higher job classification. The final step in setting up a wage structure is to determine the appropriate pay grade into which each job should be placed on the basis of its evaluated worth. Traditionally, this worth is determined on the basis of job requirements without regard to the performance of the person in that job. Under this system, the performance of those who exceed the requirements of a job may be acknowledged by merit increases within the grade range or by promotion to a job in the next higher pay grade.

5. Laws governing compensation raise important issues for both employers and employees.

Discuss the following: a. the effect of mandatory overtime b. the effects of raising the minimum wage c. pay equity: is it needed?

These are very broad questions that are difficult to respond to, given their complexity and the amount of research that has been done on these topics. It might be wise to provide students with some articles to assist them in responding to these questions. Examples of excellent published academic papers that deal with these issues are found in Recommended Reading.

6. The Pay Equity Commission proposes three methods to make pay equity comparisons: • the job-to-job comparison method • the proportional value comparison method • the proxy comparison method Read about these methods at http://www.payequity.gov.on.ca/en/tools/Pages/ plan_sample.aspx and at http://www.payequity.gov.on.ca/en/tools/ Pages/guide_to_act11.aspx. What are some of the problems of developing a pay system based on each method? The major problem is one of measuring the comparable worth of completely different types of jobs in different employment situations. Equal pay for comparable work also ignores the impact that the labour market and collective bargaining can have on the rate employers are forced to pay for certain jobs. Employer ability to pay also can have an effect on the rates that can be paid for certain jobs.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Pay Decisions at University Health Foods on Wheels cxxvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

1. What factors should Amelia consider when setting the wage for the purchasing agent position? What resources are available for them to consult when establishing this wage?

She should consider both internal and external factors. Internal factors have been reviewed in Discussion Question 2. External factors include labour market conditions, area wage rates, and cost of living. She can consult websites such as Workopolis to see if there are any similar positions available in her region or in Canada. She can also take advantage of HRIS and Salary Surveys: employers can obtain a variety of wage and benefit data from both public and commercial websites. These sites are readily available and easily accessed. Commercial websites can be found in different human resources and compensation journals. Survey Finder has a database of hundreds of compensation surveys offered by more than 50 independent vendors.

2. Are there any incentive pay systems Amelia should consider? Discuss a few options.

Incentives are discussed in Chapter 10. Amelia might consider some kind of pay for performance; however, the position is complex, and therefore a team-based incentive might be better.

Case Study 2: Job Evaluations at CBC/Radio-Canada 1. What type of job evaluation did CBC/Radio Canada use? CBC/Radio-Canada used the point system.

2. What are the advantages and limitations of this system? The biggest advantage of the point system is that it provides a more refined basis of making judgments than ranking or classification systems, thus producing results that are more valid and less easy to manipulate. They are also perceived to be fairer. The biggest disadvantage of the point system is the complexity in building it.

Chapter 10: Pay for Performance: Incentive Rewards If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Incentives must be strategically aligned and handled carefully in order to glean the benefits from them.

Incentives can be at the individual, group, or enterprise level, and each type of incentive has advantages and disadvantages.

Learning outcomes 1. Discuss the basic requirements for successful implementation of incentive programs.

2. Identify the types of and reasons for implementing individual incentive plans, and discuss under what conditions individual incentives are appropriate.

3. Indicate the advantage of each of the principal methods used to compensate cxxvii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

salespeople.

4. Identify the key aspects of team and group-level pay-for-performance plans.

5. Differentiate between profit-sharing plans and explain the advantages and disadvantages of these programs.

6. Describe the main types of employee stock ownership plans and discuss their advantages to employers and employees.

Why is this chapter important?

This chapter acquaints students with the different types of financial incentive plans that have been developed to motivate each category of employees within an organization. More important, it seeks to make students aware of the criteria for a successful incentive plan and how effective financial incentives are in comparison with other forms of motivation. Some of the new financial incentive plans for management employees are described. Also discussed in the chapter are the various forms of gainsharing incentive plans. The advantages and disadvantages of gainsharing plans are reviewed. The chapter concludes by discussing the conditions that have led to the introduction of employee stock ownership plans.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

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Start the class by opening with Discussion Question 2: Assume that you are a consultant for a small fast-food retail outlet. What would your suggestions be for key steps in designing a successful incentive plan? Discuss a few recommendations you would suggest with respect to incentives for exceptional performance. Why? This is a useful starting point, as most students are familiar with fast-food restaurants, and many have probably worked for one in the past. See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Begin the class with a topical issue: executive compensation. Use Case Study 1: Executive Compensation: The Case of Ontario Hospital Executives. Ask students to respond to the case study questions in groups. See a sample solution in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Start with Beyersdorfer and colleagues‘ (2012) case published in the Harvard Business Review called ―Bonuses in Bad Times.‖ See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Exercise: Make photocopies of Figure 10.1: Types of Incentive Plans for each student. Cut the different types of incentive plans into squares so that each type is on its own square.

Stick all of the pieces of paper into an envelope. In class, provide each student with an envelope and ask students to arrange the squares according to whether each incentive system is an individual, group, or enterprise/organization incentive plan. cxxviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Strategic Reasons for Incentive Plans   

Incentive plans, also called variable pay programs, have grown significantly over the past years.

Variable pay means tying pay to some measure of individual, group, or organizational performance.

Call-Out Question: Ask students why they believe that organizations use incentive pay programs. Use Figure 10.2: Advantages of Incentive Pay Programs, which looks at incentives as a way to reward performance, foster teamwork, and attract top performers, to inform the answers.

Incentive Plans as Links to Organizational Objectives Contemporary arguments for incentive plans focus on linking compensation rewards to organizational goals. The degree of success depends on several factors including (1) identifying important organizational metrics to measure employee performance and (2) a customized incentive plan.

Requirements for a Successful Incentive Plan  Connectivity Activity: First review Highlights in HRM 10.1: Setting Performance Measures: The Keys. Next, ask students to evaluate how well their performance is measured in most of their university courses. Do their university courses pass this test? 

Call-Out Question: Explain that employees may oppose incentive plans. Ask students why they believe employees may resist these pay programs. Their answers should reflect the opposite of the characteristics that make an incentive plan successful.

Setting Performance Measures Measuring and differentiating performance among employees is a difficult task for managers.

Measurement can communicate the importance of established organizational goals.  Use Figure 10.3: Measurement Dos And Don’ts to discuss the do‘s and don‘ts of measuring performance for incentives.

Administering Incentive Plans A cardinal rule for administering incentive plans is that they must be carefully thought out, implemented, and maintained with a ―proceed with caution‖ approach. Some important points to consider about administering incentive plans include the following:  Incentive plans are effective only when managers are willing to grant incentives based on differences in individuals, team, or organizational performance.  Annual salary budgets must be large enough to reward and reinforce exceptional performance.  The overhead costs associated with plan implementation and administration must be determined, including the cost of established performance standards, the added cost

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of record keeping, and the time communicating to employees and resolving any complaints. 

In-Class Activity: The rest of the textbook reviews (1) individual incentive plans, (2) group incentive plans, and (3) enterprise incentive plans. Rather than lecture about each type of plan, assign students to groups, and provide one type of plan to each of the groups. Ask the groups to develop a PowerPoint slide presentation or give them flip chart paper to document the dos and don‘ts for each. Students should present to one another.

Individual Incentive Plans Call-Out Question: Ask students: If Google paid its programmers based on how many programs they wrote per day, what would happen? Once they have discussed how pay may align that one goal, ask students what would not happen if Google paid its programmers in that way. Ensure students understand that paying only based on one goal will likely cause employees not to behave cooperatively, or to innovate, etc.

A. Piecework  Straight piecework—employees receive a certain rate for each unit produced.  Differential piece rate—employees whose production exceeds the standard amount of output receive a higher rate for all of their work than the rate paid to those who do not exceed the standard amount.  Computing the Piece Rate The incentive rates must be based on hourly wage rates that would otherwise be paid for the type of work being performed.  Piecework: The Drawbacks Piecework has several drawbacks. (1) It may not always be an effective motivator.

(2) Some jobs are not suited to piecework. (3) Piecework incentive systems can work against an organizational culture promoting cooperation. 

Think-Pair-Share: What are the advantages and disadvantages of piecework? When is piecework inappropriate? Advantages may include simple to compute; plan permits an organization to predict its labour costs with accuracy; motivates employees to complete tasks. Disadvantages may include it is not always an effective motivator; employees may not work as hard due to the public scorning from other employees because this appears to be ―rate busting‖; many jobs cannot have individual contributions determined. Piecework is probably inappropriate to use in the following instances: when quality is more important than quantity; when technology changes are frequent; when productivity standards on which piecework must be based are difficult to develop; when it is counterculture.

B. Standard Hour Plan  The standard hour plan—sets rates based on the completion of a job in a predetermined standard time. If the job is completed in less than the standard time, the cxxx Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

individual is paid based on the standard time determined for the job times the employee‘s hourly rate.

C. Bonuses  A bonus is an incentive payment that is supplemental to the base wage. Bonuses can be paid based on units produced, cost reduction, or other established performance criteria.  A spot bonus is an unplanned bonus given for employee effort unrelated to an established performance measure.

D. Merit Pay  A merit pay program (or merit raise) links an increase in base pay to how successfully an employee performs his or her job. 

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Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to think of at least five conditions that are necessary for merit-pay programs to work. Ask students to share their responses in a round robin until all of the responses have been documented on the board or overhead. Answers should include: when raises are perceived to be tied to performance; when the raise is high enough (7–9 percent minimum); when employees are evaluated objectively; when they are separate from cost-of-living adjustments; employees do not come to expect the increase or see it as an entitlement; not based on seniority or favouritism; managers must have guidance for how to define and measure performance; clear communication on what is ‗performance‘; they don‘t create feelings of inequity.

Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 1 as a basis for this small group discussion: Individual-level performance pay systems have been heavily criticized by scholars and other experts. Using merit pay as an example, discuss the pros and cons of individual performance pay systems. See a sample solution in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions.

Connectivity Activity: Use HRM Experience: Awarding Salary Increases to showcase the difficulty in awarding merit pay.

E. Lump-Sum Merit Pay  A lump-sum merit program—employees receive a year-end merit payment, which is not added to their base pay.

• Call-Out Question: Ask students why an organization would use this form of incentive system, Ensure students recognize that this may be advantageous in case the organization does not have sufficient funds to promise a wage increase, or when an employee‘s performance is variable year-to-year.

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F. Incentive Awards and Recognition  Incentive awards and employee recognition are an important part of an employer‘s payfor-performance compensation strategy. Awards are used to recognize productivity gains, special contributions or achievements, and service to the organization.  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to discuss whether the rewards that they value are different from the rewards their parents value. See Highlights in HRM 10.2: Customize Your Noncash Incentive Awards for examples of different awards for different age groups.

G. Sales Incentives  Call-Out Question: Ask students for examples of clothing stores that use sales incentives for their employees (many will have worked in such environments). Ask them to share their experiences as a customer or employee, and whether they have ever felt pressure to sell/buy a product.  

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A straight salary plan—permits salespeople to be paid for performing various duties that are not reflected immediately in their sales volume.

Call-Out Question: Ask students where this plan would be most beneficial to the employee and the organization. The principal limitation of the straight salary plan is that it may not motivate salespeople to exert sufficient effort in maximizing their sales volume. However, the organizational culture should be taken into consideration. Indigo and Best Buy, two hugely successful retail outlets in Canada, do not use a commission plan for their shop-floor employees.

A straight commission plan—a compensation plan based on a percentage of sales. This provides maximum incentive to increase sales performance and is easy to compute.

Call-Out Question: What are the disadvantages to a straight commission plan?

Salespeople will stress high-priced products; customer service after the sale is likely to be neglected; earnings tend to fluctuate widely between good and poor periods of business; turnover of trained sales employees tends to increase in poor periods; salespeople are tempted to grant price concessions.

A combined salary and commission plan—the most widely used sales incentive program, which includes a straight salary and a commission.

Think-Pair-Share: What are the advantages of a combined salary and commission plan? The plan can be customized to the right kind of compensation and salary proportions; a salary-plus incentive compensation plan offers greater flexibility; the plan can develop the most favourable ratio of selling expense to sales; the field sales force can be motivated to achieve specific company marketing objectives in addition to sales volume.

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Incentives for Professional Employees The Executive Pay Package  Use Figure 10.4: Types of Long-Term Incentive Plans to review long-term incentives used for executives.  Executive compensation plans consist of five basic components: a) Executive Base Salaries—represent between 30–40 percent of total annual compensation. b) Executive Short-Term Incentives—Annual bonuses represent the main element of executive short-term incentives. A bonus may take the form of cash or stock, and may be paid immediately or deferred until retirement. c) Executive Long-Term Incentives—Stock options are the primary long-term incentive offered to executives. The principal reason driving executive stock ownership is the desire of both the company and outside investors for senior managers to have a significant stake in the success of the business—to have their fortunes rise and fall with the value they create for shareholders. d) Executive Benefits—might include: extended health, vacations, estate planning assistance, payment of mortgage interest, legal assistance, and so on.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 10.3: The ―Sweetness‖ of Executive Perks for examples. e) Executive Perquisites—special nonmonetary benefits given to executives, often referred to as perks. The status that comes with perks shows a pecking order and conveys authority.

Executive Compensation: Ethics and Accountability  Think-Pair-Share: Use Ethics in HRM: Executive Incentives and Perks: Blackberry as the basis for this think-pair-share. Ask students: How ethical are high executive compensation packages, as a whole across Canada (and not just Blackberry), when compared to average employee pay?  Individual Assignment: Use Discussion Question 3 as the basis for an individual assignment: CEO pay has been heavily criticized in North America, especially in the United States. Discuss both reasons for and reasons against high executive pay. See sample solutions to the debate/discussion question in Answers to End-of Chapter Discussion Questions.  Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Executive Compensation: The Case of Ontario Hospital Executives to generate discussion on the ethics of executive pay. See the sample solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Group Incentive Plans Team Compensation All team members receive an incentive bonus payment when production or service standards are met or exceeded.

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Think-Pair-Share/Connectivity Activity: What are the advantages and disadvantages of team compensation? Alternatively, you can ask students to recall working in team projects in university and ask them what the advantages and disadvantages are. One advantage is that team bonuses can replace individual bonuses when individual effort is hard to measure or when the employer wishes to encourage group cooperation. Moreover, it encourages teamwork and aligns the team‘s goals with the organization‘s goals. Disadvantages may include the following: Individual team members may perceive that their efforts contribute too little to team success; intergroup social problems might target one individual as a free rider; compensation payout formulas are too complex; payout rewards are insufficient.

Connectivity Activity: Ask students how they could best incentivize a team to which they belong in a different class. Relate their responses to Highlights in HRM 10.4: Lessons Learned: Designing Effective Team Incentives.

Case Study: Use Case Study 2: Team-Based Incentives: Not Your Usual Office to illustrate the pitfalls in team-based compensation programs. See the recommended responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Gainsharing Incentive Plans Gainsharing plans are programs under which both employees and the organization share financial gains according to a predetermined formula that reflects improved productivity and profitability. There are two types:  The Scanlon Plan—a bonus incentive plan using employee and management committees to gain cost-reduction improvements. The philosophy behind the Scanlon Plan is that employees should offer ideas and suggestions to improve productivity, and be rewarded for their constructive efforts. Improvements or gains largely come from ―working smarter, not harder.‖ Financial incentives under the Scanlon Plan are ordinarily offered to all employees on the basis of an established formula.  Improshare—bonuses are based on the overall productivity of the work team.

Improshare means improved productivity through sharing. The bonus is based on productivity gains that result from reducing the time it takes to produce a finished product. The employees and the company each receive payment for 50 percent of the improvement. Improshare promotes increased interaction and support between employees and management.  

Call-Out Question: Is gainsharing possible if the organizational culture is not cooperative and empowered?

Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to determine whether they would voluntarily suggest ways to improve their work environments if they were NOT compensated, as in the example in gainsharing. How should you be compensated if you saved your company $1 million?

Enterprise Incentive Plans 

All organizational members participate in the plan‘s compensation payout.

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 

Reward employees on the basis of the success of the organization over an extended time period—normally one year.

Seek to create a ―culture of ownership‖ by fostering cooperation and teamwork.

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Profit-Sharing Plans Any procedure by which an employer pays, or makes available to all regular employees, in addition to base pay, special current or deferred sums based on the profits of the enterprise. 

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Call-Out Question: Why would organizations use profit-sharing plans? Answers may include the following: They give employees the opportunity to increase their earnings by contributing to the growth of their organization‘s profits; makes employees feel like partners in the enterprise and be concerned with the welfare of the whole organization.

Call-Out Question: What are the potential drawbacks of using a profit-sharing plan?

As accountants well know, profits shared with employees may be the result of inventory speculation, climatic factors, economic conditions, national emergencies, or other factors over which employees have NO control. Since there is little linkage between the efforts made by employees and the generation of profits, employee involvement might decline.

Also, since profit-sharing payments are only made once per year, their motivational value is reduced. If there are too many unprofitable years in a row, this will influence employee productivity and morale to decline.

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) An organization contributes shares of its stock to an established trust for the purpose of stock purchases by employees. Stock option programs are sometimes implemented as part of an employee benefit plan or as part of a corporate culture linking employee effort to stock performance. However, organizations that offer stock option programs to employees do so with the belief that there is some incentive value to the systems. 

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Think-Pair-Share: Ask students: What are the advantages and disadvantages of ESOPs? Advantages might include the following: ESOPs can increase employees‘ pride of ownership in the organization, providing an incentive for them to increase productivity and help the organization prosper and grow; employees can also become more interested in how the company is managed and hold managers to higher and different performance standards, such as maximizing share value; ESOPs provide a form of savings for employees‘ retirement. Problems with ESOPs might include the following: the potential inability to pay back the shares of employees when they retire since the employees do not have the option of disposing of their shares on the open market; the more retirement income comes from these plans, the more dependent a pensioner becomes on the price of company shares; employees may become demotivated and frustrated if the share price falls, even though they have worked productively; productivity improves when ESOPs are implemented, but these gains are not guaranteed.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Reality Check: Pay for Performance at Lombard Canada to illustrate Lombard‘s compensation strategy given today‘s economic and social environment in Canada.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See The Business Case: Incentive Plan at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to see an interpretation of when an incentive plan is successful.

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Finishing Class   

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Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students a provocative question: ―Will there come a time when incentives will be a thing of the past? What will be predicted regarding incentives when there are labour shortages?‖ Use this as a basis for discussion on the online board for your class.

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics. Remind students that they will not be able to work without making contributions to discussions.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading     

Beyersdorfer, D., Dessain, V., Zeynep, T., Hollanders, N., & Barberan, M. (2012). Bonuses in Bad Times. Harvard Business Review, 90(7/8), 153–157.

Dahlström, C., & Lapuente, V. (2012). Explaining cross-country differences in performance-related pay in the public sector. Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, 20(3), 577–600.

Desai, M. (2012). The Incentive Bubble. Harvard Business Review, 90(3), 124–132.

Hollensbe, E.C., Guthrie, J.P. (2000). Group pay-for-performance plans: The role of spontaneous goal setting. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 864–872.

Lazear, E.P., & Shaw, K.L. (2007). Personnel Economics: The economist‘s view of human resources. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(4), 91–114.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Individual-level performance pay systems have been heavily criticized by scholars and other experts. Using merit pay as an example, discuss the pros and cons of individual performance pay systems. Merit raises may not always achieve their intended purpose since employees come to expect the increase and see it as an entitlement unrelated to their performance. Sometimes merit raises are based on seniority or favouritism. Compensation specialists recognize the following problems with merit pay plans:  Money available for merit increases may be inadequate to satisfactorily raise all employees‘ base salary.  Managers may have no guidance in how to define and measure performance.  Employees may not believe that their compensation is tied to effort and performance.

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 

Employees and their managers may hold different views of the factors that contribute to job success.

Merit plans may create feelings of pay inequity.

2. Assume that you are a consultant for a small fast-food retail outlet. What would your suggestions be for key steps in designing a successful incentive plan? Discuss a few recommendations you would suggest with respect to incentives for exceptional performance. Why? For an incentive plan to succeed, employees must have some desire for the plan. Employee acceptance can be heightened by employee involvement in the design and administration of the program. Employees must see a clear connection between the incentive payments they receive and their job performance. This connection is more visible if there are objective quality or quantity standards by which they can judge their performance. This requires mutual trust and understanding between employees and their supervisors. A successful incentive plan should include the following:  Identify important organizational metrics that encourage employee behaviour.  Involve employees.  Incentive programs should seem fair to employees.  Find the right incentive payout.  Payout formulas should be simple and understandable.  Establish a clear link between performance and payout.

3. CEO pay has been heavily criticized in North America, especially in the United States.

Discuss both reasons for and reasons against high executive pay. Some of the ―pro‖ comments might be that large financial incentives are a way to reward superior performance; business competition is pressure-filled and demanding; good executive talent is in great demand; effective executives create shareholder value; stock options can serve to retain key executive personnel when exercising the options is linked to a specific vesting period, perhaps two to four years (this is called ―golden handcuffs‖ because it entices executives to stay with an organization for this period). Some of the ―cons‖ would be that incentive plans cause executives to focus on quarterly profits to the detriment of long-term survival and growth objectives.

4. Many students are attracted to companies that promote themselves as ―green‖ or environmentally friendly. What kinds of incentives could a ―green‖ company offer to its employees? A ―green‖ company could offer the following incentives to its employees:  Bonus for carpooling or using mass transit  Bonus for telecommuting one day per week to reduce greenhouse gases  Bonus and or gainsharing for generating energy or other efficiencies savings for the organization  Profit-sharing for establishing new programs that save resources 5. Because of competitive forces within your industry, you have decided to implement a profitsharing plan for your employees. Discuss the advantages of profit sharing and identify specific characteristics that will ensure success for your plan. The philosophy behind profit sharing is to have employees share in the success (profits) of the organization. The intent is cxxxviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

to give employees the opportunity to raise their income by contributing to the growth of the organization. Profit sharing is intended to make employees feel like ―partners‖ with top executives and other stakeholders of the organization. Profit-sharing plans appear to work best when employees can see a connection between their individual efforts and contributions and organizational success (i.e., a pay-for-performance connection). Plans should also pay off frequently to be seen as motivational.

6. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of ESOPs? The reasons for the growth of ESOPs include pressure to stave off takeover bids and pressure to provide retirement benefits for employees. Employers also recognize that, if properly administered, the plans can have motivational value. The problem with ESOPs is that the stock may not have much value when employees attempt to sell it, because there may be no market for it. Some owners have used the plans to overstate the value of the stock they are distributing to employees, thereby realizing an undeserved personal gain.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Executive Compensation: The Case of Ontario Hospital Executives 1. Are CEOs and key executives worth the large pay packages they receive? Explain. If CEOs are not provided with a large pay package, then they are likely to leave the organization.

Moreover, economic arguments lead one to believe that executives deserve to be paid at high levels, since their actions heavily impact upon the success of the organization.

Moreover, good executive talent is in high demand and effective executives create shareholder value. Students may argue that they are not worth that amount, but putting a cap on executive salary would bring with it challenges, too.

2. Do you agree with Peter Drucker that corporate executives should receive compensation packages no larger than a percentage of the pay of hourly workers? Explain. This is a student‘s personal opinion.

3. Do you think that executives in the broader public sector, such as hospital executives, should receive such large pay packages? Since the public finances the public sector, some might argue that the public has a say in how much executives are paid. But we live in an open-market world where, if we do not compete with the private sector (e.g., offer competitive salaries for our executives), then we will be left with poorer-performing executives, which will hurt the public sector in the long run anyway.

Case Study 2: Team-Based Incentives: Not Your Usual Office 1. Do the results from the survey illustrate typical complaints about teams and specifically about team incentive rewards? Explain. The complaints that are noted by the sales reps are typical problems found in ineffective teams. Not all employees like working in teams and may prefer working alone or in an environment where they either rise or fall on their own merit. Free riders (those who benefit from the superior work of others) can be lowcxxxix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

producing employees or simply employees who take advantage of the high productivity of the team. For example, teams made up of students often complain that one team member doesn‘t pull his or her share and becomes a free rider. Teams do not always produce synergy, especially when team members do not get along together or refuse to share their skills or knowledge in a collaborative effort. Also, managers of teams must assure employees that all teams have an equal opportunity to earn bonuses. When performance goals favour one team over another (i.e., some teams are assigned more difficult regions than others), problems will inevitably arise.

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2. If appropriate, what changes would you recommend to improve the incentive reward program? Be specific. Students may offer various changes to improve the incentive reward program. Several of the more obvious changes might be as follows: To ensure that all teams have an equal chance to earn the maximum. If some regions are more difficult than others, then this should be taken into consideration in calculating the bonus. The team bonus could be divided among team members based on their individual contributions.

Thus, superior performers would receive larger bonuses compared to low producers.

Unequal cash distributions can serve to eliminate the free rider problem. An evaluation of each team member can be based upon peer reviews, supervisory evaluations, individual performance measurement scores, or a combination of these methods.

3. Would management have benefited from employee involvement in the initial design and implementation of the program? Explain. When establishing teams, experience has demonstrated that it is always prudent to involve employees both in the design and implementation of the program. Employee involvement helps to achieve commitment to the program since employees have a say in program design. This is particularly true when setting performance measures. Employees can also serve to identify problem areas—areas unanticipated by management. Also, employees who ―buy into‖ the concept of teams can serve to answer the questions of employees who might have reservations about how the team concept will work or how employees can benefit from teaming.

Chapter 11: Employee Benefits If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

In Canada, the law requires organizations to provide employees with some benefits, and other benefits are discretionary.

Organizations must balance the cost of benefit programs with the anticipated benefits of increased employee satisfaction, commitment, and loyalty.

Learning outcomes 1. Describe key aspects of managing employee benefits and the characteristics of strategic benefits programs that are cost-effective.

2. Identify and explain the employee benefits required by law.

3. Describe benefits that involve payment for time not worked.

4. Discuss recent trends in retirement policies and programs, and the major factors involved in managing pension plans.

5. Describe the types of work–life benefits employers may provide.

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Why is this chapter important?

This chapter enables students to recognize the changes occurring in the types and value of benefits employees receive as part of their total compensation. It also should make students aware of current benefit trends and the significant cost of these benefits to the employer as a percentage of their labour costs. Current benefits programs are examined in terms of their intended contributions to an organization‘s objectives and the extent to which these objectives are being realized. This chapter is organized into four major sections, starting with general information about benefits programs. The other sections cover employee benefits required by law, discretionary major employee benefits, and finally, a discussion of the types of employee services that are provided.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

One thing that stands out about the companies ranked on Fortune‘s 100 Best Companies to Work For (http://fortune.com/best-companies/) is their great benefits packages. Ask students if they would like to work for one of these companies and if they believe that the benefits attract, retain, or motivate, or all three. Share with students that approximately half of Canadians stated that a good benefit plan would make them stay with their current employer, and that they would prefer their health benefits over increased compensation.

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Share with students the numerous examples of organizations that provide benefits programs in the prologue to this chapter.

Managing Employee Benefits Programs 

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Ask students Discussion Question 1: Assume that you have been hired as the HR manager of a small computer software firm with 180 employees. The CEO has asked you to design a strategic benefits plan for the firm. Using the knowledge gained in this chapter and book, discuss the key steps you would suggest in such a plan. See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Explain that employee benefits constitute an indirect form of compensation intended to improve the quality of the work lives and personal lives of employees.

In Canada, benefits constitute approximately 20–25 percent of payroll costs.

Elements of an Effective Benefits Program 

The effectiveness of benefits programs hinge on two factors:

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1. Selecting benefits that target important employee needs while promoting strategic objectives 2. Effective administration of benefits programs

Strategic Benefits Planning—Like any other HR policy, benefits need to be aligned with the organization‘s objectives, and most set of objectives include the following:  Improve employee work satisfaction.  Meet employee health and safety requirements.  Attract and motivate employees.  Retain top-performing employees.  Maintain a favourable competitive position, Allowing for Employee Involvement—Ask for employee involvement in the design and evaluation of the benefit plan.

Benefits for a Diverse Workforce—Benefit plans must reflect the social changes that Canada is constantly facing, e.g., family-friendly policies.

Flexible Benefits—also known as ―cafeteria style‖ plans:  Employees are given a number of core benefits, including life and health insurance, sick leave, and vacation.  They are given a specified number of credits that they may use to ―buy‖ whatever other benefits they need, including legal services, financial planning, and so on.  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students: What are the advantages and disadvantages of flexible benefits? Use Figure 11.1: Flexible Benefits Plans: Advantages and Disadvantages. Advantages include: employees select benefits that match their needs; benefit selections adapt to a changing and diverse workforce; employees gain greater understanding of the benefits offered to them and the costs incurred; employers maximize the psychological value of their benefits program by paying only for the highly desired benefits; employers limit benefit costs by allowing employees to ―buy‖ benefits only up to a maximum amount. Disadvantages may include: poor employee benefits selection results in unwanted financial costs; there are certain added costs to establishing and maintaining the plan; employers may choose benefits of high use to them that might increase employer premium costs.  Taking a Trade Union’s Perspective: Show or share with students CUPE‘s view on ―flexible‖ benefits: http://cupe.ca/s43396b8998144/a43396513636a2.  Making Explicit Real World Links: Find a flexible benefits plan online for either your university or a different organization (here is one for IBM Canada: http://www03.ibm.com/employment/ca/en/newemployeeonboarding/total_com_summary_brochur e_en.pdf).

Communicating Employee Benefits Information  Communication of employee benefits has been stimulated by court rulings (such as Spinks v. Canada) that require employers to communicate their benefit programs to their employees. cxliii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Discuss the Federal Court of Appeal ruling in Schmidt v. Air Products of Canada that illustrates the importance of providing accurate benefits information to employees, and that employee brochures may be legally binding documents.   

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Highlights in HRM 11.1: Crafting an Effective Benefits Communication Program provides a list of recommendations for benefits communication.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Figure 11.2: Communicating Benefits as Part of Total Rewards shows how benefits are communicated at Mercer through an online system.

Connectivity Activity: Use Discussion Question 5: As was mentioned in the opening of this chapter, many employees do not know the details of the benefits they receive.

Discuss how you would go about designing and implementing a communications plan to address this issue. See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

HRIS and Employee Benefits  The benefits of an HRIS are reduced costs, increased efficiencies, and accuracy.

Concerns of Management  

Specific concerns of management include meeting employee needs, providing a competitive benefits package, tax consequences, legal concerns, and rising costs.

Studies have shown that employee benefits do not have the motivational impact on employees often assumed by managers. Unfortunately, reducing or removing benefits can have a negative effect on employee attitudes.  

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See The Business Case: Managing the Costs of Benefits.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Reality Check: Benefits Planning: From Entitlement to Self-Responsibility. Ask students what is meant by the subtitle, ―From Entitlement to Self-Responsibility.‖ Do they think that this shift is fair?

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The Conference Board of Canada has indicated some cost containment strategies for benefits, such as the following:  Contribution changes, such as increasing deductibles  Dollar limits, such as a dollar cap on specific benefits, such as glasses  Coverage changes (e.g., limits on hospital upgrades)  Benefit caps (e.g., on dispensing fees)  Use of preferred providers and flexible benefits An additional potential cost of having benefits is fraudulent behaviour on the part of employees. Use Ethics in HRM: Benefits Fraud to give some examples of cases of fraudulent behaviour in Canada. 

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Use Discussion Question 2: Many organizations are concerned about the rising cost of employee benefits and question their value to the organization and to the employees. (a) In your opinion, what benefits are of greatest value to employees? To the organization? Why? (b) What can management do to increase the value to the organization of the benefits provided to employees? See sample solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 3: Benefits account for a significant percentage of payroll costs for organizations. Name three ways in which you, as an employer, would try to reduce the costs of benefits. See sample solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Employee Benefits Required by Law Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to respond to the question: Does the government require too many or too few benefits for employees? In their answer, students should state which benefits are required and which are not required. Students should also reflect on their own situation, biases, and other moderating factors that may influence how they answer this question.

Legally required employee benefits amount to 12 percent of the benefits package that Canadian employers provide. These include the following: a) Canada and Quebec Pension Plans (CPP/QPP)—Both plans require the employer to match the contributions made by the employee, and the government does not subsidize these plans. b) Employment Insurance (EI)—payable to claimants who are unemployed and are actively seeking employment. Both employees and employers contribute to the EI fund. a) Workers’ Compensation Insurance—insurance provided to workers to defray the loss of income and cost of treatment resulting from work-related injuries or illness. Figure 11.3, Reducing Workers’ Compensation Costs: Key Areas lists the steps that an HR department can take to control workers‘ compensation costs. b) Provincial Hospital and Medical Services—Any resident in a Canadian province for three months is eligible for healthcare benefits.

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Discretionary Major Employee Benefits A. Healthcare Benefits  These receive greater attention because of sharply rising costs and employee desire for medical coverage. Today, employers are under pressure to offer prescription drug, dental, optical, and mental health plans to their workers. Drugs now represent the second-largest health expenditures, second only to hospital costs.  Healthcare costs have grown significantly for many reasons, such as an aging population that requires more healthcare.  Approaches used to contain costs are reduction in coverage, mandatory second opinions for surgery, increased coordination of benefits, and increased deductibles or copayments.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: A list of cost containment strategies is given in Figure 11.4: Cost Containment Strategies, and Highlights in HRM 11.2: Team Approach to Cost Containment at The Economical Insurance Group (TEIG) focuses on a team approach to cost reduction at The Economical Insurance Group.

B. Payment for Time Not Worked Payment for time not worked includes the following: a) Vacations with Pay—Vacation benefits normally depend on years of service. The average annual number of vacation days in Canada is 19 days, but about 25 percent of employees do not take all of their vacation allotment, and 10 percent never take vacation. b) Paid Holidays—Both hourly and salaried employees can expect to be paid for statutory holidays according to each province. c) Sick Leave—Employees who cannot work because of illness or injury are compensated in various ways. Most employers offer short-term disability and long-term disability plans. d) Severance Pay—Severance pay is a lump-sum payment given to terminated employees by an employer at the time of an employer-initiated termination.

C. Life Insurance Group life insurance is the benefit most commonly provided by an employer. The purpose is to provide financial security to the dependents of the employee, in case of his or her death.

D. Retirement Programs Retirement Policies  With the federal government repealing legislation forcing retirement at age 65 for federal employees, mandatory retirement in Canada is being abolished. Statistics Canada reported that 61 is the average age of retirement, with women leaving work at 58 and men at 62.  Many organizations have encouraged early retirements by offering increased pension benefits or cash bonuses, known as the silver handshake. A silver handshake is an early retirement incentive in the form of increased pension benefits for several years or a cash bonus. Note that a growing number of older workers are choosing to retire early. cxlvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

The main factors in a decision to retire early are health, personal finances, and job satisfaction, as well as the possibility of future layoffs.

Preretirement Programs  In an attempt to lessen the disappointment once people retire, some employers offer programs to help employees prepare for retirement. These programs typically include seminars, workshops, lectures, videos, and printed material. Usually, they cover such topics as how to live on a reduced, fixed income, and how to cope with lost prestige, family conflict, and idleness.

E. Pension Plans Types of Pension Plans:  Contributory plan is a pension plan in which contributions are made jointly by employees and employers.  Non-contributory plan is a pension plan in which contributions are made solely by the employer (very rare, if used at all these days).  Defined-benefit plan is a pension plan in which the amount an employee is to receive on retirement is specifically set forth.  Defined-contribution plan is a pension plan that establishes the basis on which an employer will contribute to the pension fund.  All new pension plans in Canada are defined-contribution plans by law.

Federal Regulation of Pension Plans  Registered pension plans are subject to federal and provincial regulations. Standards and controls are provided for, and minimum funding is required. Of special concern to the individual is vesting, the guarantee of accrued benefits to participants at retirement age, regardless of employment status at that time.

Pension Portability  Employees who change jobs (and are not vested) lose their equity in a pension that is not portable. Multiple employer plans are sought after by unions to provide portability.

These plans cover the employees of two or more unrelated organizations in accordance with a collective agreement.

Pension Funds  Pension funds may be administered through either a trusted or an insured plan. In a trusted plan, the pension contributions are placed in a trust fund. The fund is then invested and administered by trustees. Contributions to the insured pension plan are used to purchase insurance annuities. These funds are administered by the insurance company that is providing the annuities. 

Debate: Ask students to debate whether employees should have a say in where their pension money is invested. Show students Highlights in HRM 11.3: Whose Money Is It? for a summary of each side of the debate.

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Integrating Previous Learning and Small Group Discussion: Refer to Chapter 2‘s discussion of ―Mapping Human Architecture,‖ and ask students to consider which group will be provided with these ―extra‖ benefits and which ones may not be provided with them. Also ask them to consider how contingent employees feel when they know they are not privy to the most basic benefits, like health, dental, and so on. Does this create a have and have not culture within an organization? Is it fair that contingent employees typically get no employee benefits? Or should regular employees have their benefits rolled back to include contingent workers? How would you go about including contingent employees in a benefits plan? Use equity theory (taught along with Compensation) to try to understand how employees will feel. Also, see Cummings and Kriess‘s article published in the American Medical Association Journal on the health implications of contingent work. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Employee Services: Creating a Work–Life Setting 

Making Explicit Real World Links: Figure 11.5: Family-Friendly Benefits: Balancing Work and Home Needs shows a variety of popular employer-sponsored work–life benefits.

A. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)—services provided by employers to help workers cope with a wide variety of problems that interfere with the way they perform their jobs.  EAPs provide diagnosis, counselling, and referral services for alcohol or drug problems, emotional problems, and financial or family crises.  EAPs typically add about 8 percent to payroll costs.  The purpose of EAPs is to help employees solve their personal problems, or at least to prevent those problems from turning into crises that affect their ability to work productively.  Between 7 to 10 percent of employees use EAPs. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 11.4: Yukon Government’s Public Service Commission.

B. Counselling Services  Counselling is an important part of an EAP. Managers and supervisors should learn counselling techniques so they can assist where feasible and make effective referrals in a helpful manner.  Advise students that as managers and supervisors, they will be expected to play a counselling role at times. They cannot expect someone else to do it.

C. Childcare and Eldercare  Today there is an unprecedented demand for eldercare. Eldercare is care provided to an elderly relative by an employee who remains actively at work.

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About 32 percent of Canadians have eldercare responsibilities, and employees spend an average of 23 hours each month on eldercare.

Those responsible for caregiving are more likely to miss work because of the emotional and physical fatigue associated with caregiving.

Employers can assist those who give eldercare through seminars, individual counselling, distribution of printed materials, or special support groups.

For working parents, some benefits for childcare include financial assistance, alternative work schedules, family leave, and onsite childcare.

Making Explicit Real Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 11.5: Simon Fraser University Makes Childcare a Priority.

Connectivity Activity: Case Study 1: Evaluate the Work–Life Climate in Your Company asks students to respond to a questionnaire that will evaluate the work–life climate of their organization. Discuss their scores in class, and ask students (especially those who do not have a lot of work experience) how they might go about finding a good match between their preferences and their employer (person–organization fit).

What sorts of questions might they ask in an interview, for instance?

Connectivity Activity: Use Thompson‘s article published in the Journal of Management Education to teach managing work–life balance. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

D. Other Services  Legal Services  Financial Planning  Housing and Moving Expenses  Transportation Pooling  Credit Unions  Recreational and Social Service 

Team Assignment: Use HRM Experience: Understanding Employer Benefit Programs as the basis of an out-of-class team assignment.

Finishing Class    

Finish the class by presenting Highlights in HRM 11.6: Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). This bank has been highly ranked on the list of Canada‘s best employers for pension and benefits since 2007.

Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class. cxlix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Ask students a reflective question, such as Discussion Question 4: Do you agree with the argument that the benefits for time not worked are the ones most readily available to reduce employer costs? Explain. Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics. Remind students that they will not be able to work without making contributions to discussions.

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Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading    

Cummings, K.J., & Kreiss, K. (2008). Contingent workers and contingent health: Risks of a modern economy. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 299(4), 447–449.

Hayashi, A.M. (2001). Mommy Track Backlash. Harvard Business Review, 79(3), 33–42.

Thompson, C.A. (2002). Managing the work–life balancing act: An introductory exercise.

Journal of Management Education, 26(2), 205–220.

Wang, M., & Shultz, K. (2010). Employee retirement: A review and recommendations for future investigation. Journal of Management, 36(1), 172–206.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Assume that you have been hired as the HR manager of a small computer software firm with 180 employees. The CEO has asked you to design a strategic benefits plan for the firm. Using the knowledge gained in this chapter and book, discuss the key steps you would suggest in such a plan. I would want to involve employees at the outset, by creating a committee of a range of employees from different occupational groups. Their remit would be to generate a survey to administer to all employees to find out what types of benefits would be useful for them. Then I would evaluate current employee benefit providers and cost them according to the preferences of the employees. I would consider using flexibility in the package, as long as it wasn‘t too costly. Lastly, I would ensure that an effective communication strategy was put together to showcase the benefits package, ensure that employees view them as part of their rewards package, and ensure understanding of the program. Training might be necessary for some employees.

2. Many organizations are concerned about the rising cost of employee benefits and question their value to the organization and to the employees. (a) In your opinion, what benefits are of greatest value to employees? To the organization? Why? (b) What can management do to increase the value to the organization of the benefits provided to employees? This question is designed to stimulate discussion about benefits and their value to the organization and its employees. (a) Students should be encouraged to express their opinions and to present evidence, if possible, to support them. (b) Management can increase the value of benefits to the organization by having clearly established objectives for the program, by determining the optimum benefit combination, and by providing for employee participation. Careful attention should be given to the controlling of costs of benefits and other problem areas, such as those discussed in the text.

3. Benefits account for a significant percentage of payroll costs for organizations. Name three ways in which you, as an employer, would try to reduce the costs of benefits. Employers can reduce the cost of benefits in the following ways: (1) Educate and motivate, which includes communicating the costs of benefits; provide incentives to employees to reduce costs; teach employees how to live healthy lifestyles and how to plan for retirement. (2) cli Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Change coverage that includes dollar limits on benefits; eliminate duplicate coverage for spouses; remove upgrades; introduce minimum fees to be paid by employees. (3) Change the system that includes forming partnerships with pharmacies to provide discounts; move to defined contribution plans; move to a claims management approach; and audit claims.

4. Do you agree with the argument that the benefits for time not worked are the ones most readily available to reduce employer costs? Explain. This question is designed to elicit various student responses. There is no right or wrong answer.

5. As was mentioned in the opening of this chapter, many employees do not know the details of the benefits they receive. Discuss how you would go about designing and implementing a communications plan to address this issue. Highlights in HRM 11.1: Crafting an Effective Benefits Communication Program provides the following points:  In building an identity:  Design materials that are eye-catching and of high interest to employees.  Develop a graphic logo for all material.  Identify a theme for the benefits program.  In writing benefit materials:  Avoid complex language when describing benefits.  Provide numerous examples to illustrate benefits specifics.  Explain all benefits in an open and honest manner; don‘t conceal unpleasant news.  Explain the purpose behind the benefit and value of the benefit to employees.  In publicizing benefits information:  Use all popular employee communication techniques.  Maintain employee self-service technology to disseminate benefits information and update selections.  Use voice mail and send benefits information.  Employ presentation software to present information to groups of employees.  Maintain a benefits hotline to answer employee questions.

6. Many organizations are introducing flexible benefit plans. Why? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Advantages include: employees select benefits that match their needs; benefits selections adapt to a changing and diverse workforce; employees gain greater understanding of the benefits offered to them and the costs incurred; employers maximize the psychological value of their benefits program by paying only for the highly desired benefits; employers limit benefit costs by allowing employees to ―buy‖ benefits only up to a maximum amount. Disadvantages may include: poor employee benefits selection results in unwanted financial costs; there are certain added costs to establishing and maintaining the plan; employers may choose benefits of high use to them that might increase employer premium costs.

7. Given the costs of employee benefits, should cash-strapped organizations provide discretionary benefits? Why or why not? Support your answer with reference to examples.

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There are numerous examples throughout this chapter that highlight the motivational value of discretionary benefits. It may also increase attraction and retention of top talent.

8. Assume your team has been hired as a benefits consultant by a small business with 50 to 60 employees. What benefits do you believe this employer should offer, given its limited resources? Explain why you would offer these benefits. These discussion questions are included to foster a group discussion on employee benefits. After teams have formulated their answers, have each team select a spokesperson to report the team‘s findings.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Evaluate the Work‒Life Climate in Your Company After students have completed the questionnaire, have them discuss their findings in a class discussion. Have students describe programs their employers have that facilitate a work–life climate.

Case Study 2: Maple Leafs’ Family-Friendly Benefits: An Unexpected Backlash 1. Do managers such as Janis Blancero face a more complicated decision when evaluating the personal requests of employees versus evaluating employees’ individual work performance? Explain. In general, managers and employees tend to view ―flexible‖ in degrees. A manager may feel that he or she is being sufficiently flexible by overlooking an employee‘s lateness because of childcare commitments. The employee, however, may see this as ―normal‖ and expect flexibility that extends to taking Fridays off. However, not all employees have children, but have other responsibilities that they deem equally significant, and will feel that they are entitled to the same ―flexibility‖ as those who have families. One must remember that employees have job duties and they must perform them at a level that meets the organization‘s requirements. If an employee‘s use of a flexible schedule causes his or her work to be undone or late, this puts undue hardship on his or her managers or coworkers, and is not an acceptable level of performance. (a) Should MLCS establish a policy for granting flexible work schedules? Explain. (b) If you answered yes, what might that policy contain? (a) In this case, MLCS does not have a formal policy on flexible schedules, and as a result, Janis is being bombarded by requests that are of a subjective nature. By having a policy against which these decisions can be evaluated, it eliminates the subjectivity out of the decision making and eliminates any sense that she may be ―playing favourites.‖ (b) The policy must first contain a statement that productivity must not be compromised. In addition, it should strive to eliminate any specific bias toward those who have children and be more inclusive to all employees.

MLCS should develop the policy through a consultative process with its employees to ensure that whatever guidelines against which requests will be evaluated have been developed based on employee input.

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2. If you were Janis Blancero, how would you resolve this dilemma? Explain. Students will likely suggest either eliminating all flexible schedules or letting everyone ―do their own thing.‖ Whatever suggestions are offered, have students discuss the benefits and drawbacks to each.

Chapter 12: Promoting Safety and Health If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Both managers and employees have rights and responsibilities with regards to health and safety at work.

Health and safety issues involve many contemporary social concerns, such as workplace violence and stress.

Learning outcomes 1. Summarize the common elements of federal and provincial occupational health and safety legislation.

2. Describe the measures managers and employees can take to create a safe work environment.

3. Identify ways to control and eliminate various on-the-job health hazards.

4. Describe the programs organizations utilize to build better health among their workforces.

Why is this chapter important?

Occupational safety and health accidents are both numerous and costly to employers. To prevent losses such as these, employers are concerned with providing working conditions, in all areas of employment, that provide for the safety and health of their employees. Although the laws safeguarding employees‘ physical and emotional well-being are certainly an incentive, many employers are motivated to provide desirable working conditions by virtue of their sensitivity to human needs and rights. The more cost-oriented employer recognizes the importance of avoiding accidents and illnesses wherever possible. Employers are motivated by more than costs and their reputations to keep their workers safe and healthy, however. Most organizations provide their employees with good working conditions (1) because it is the right thing to do, and (2) because firms realize that people are the most strategic asset they have. But truly proactive companies can go further than this using total quality management (TQM). TQM is a set of principles and practices whose core ideas include understanding customer needs, doing things right the first time, and striving for continuous improvement.

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What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

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Begin this lecture by explaining the importance of safety and health to both the employee and the organization. Explain that organizational safety and health are often taken for granted and, therefore, not afforded the attention they deserve. A safe and healthy organization environment helps to reduce personal tragedies while saving the organization money. Stress that supervisors and managers are expected to know and comply with the laws and court cases governing this HR field.

Share these statistics with students to motivate their interest in this subject: Based on recent statistics, 1 in every 70 workers can expect to be injured at work each year in Canada. And there were over 900 workplace deaths in Canada in 2016. Costs associated with sick leave, disability payments, replacement of employees who are injured or killed, and workers‘ compensation far exceed the costs of maintaining a safety and health program. One study found that employers saved between $1.81 and $6.15 for each $1 invested in workplace health and safety. Accidents and illnesses attributable to the workplace may also have pronounced effects on employee morale and on the goodwill that the organization enjoys in the community and in the business world.

Begin this class with getting students into groups to answer Discussion Question 3 to reinforce the role of the line manager in addressing health and safety concerns at work: An unhealthy work environment can lower productivity, contribute to low morale, and increase medical and workers’ compensation costs. Working individually or in teams, list specific ways managers can do the following: (a) Help individual employees avoid repetitive strain injuries caused by prolonged computer use. (b) Deal with employee complaints about sick building syndrome. (c) Address employee fears caused by pandemics. See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions. 

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YouTube: Show this video clip in class. Ask students whether the HR manager did the right thing in the case of workplace violence: youtube.com/watch?v=aHllPBt868E

Use a case study on workplace violence by Roche and colleagues (2003) published in the Harvard Business Review. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Safety and Health: It’s the Law 

An occupational injury is any cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation resulting from a workplace accident or from an exposure involving an accident in the work environment.

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An occupational illness is an abnormal condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment.

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: Share with students some of these statistics: in 2016, there were 904 workplace deaths in Canada, and 240 682 injuries serious enough to cause a worker to miss at least one day of work.

A. Acts and Regulations  Health and safety provisions exist at the federal, provincial, and territorial level, and are enforced by different departments.  Refer students to Figure 12.1: Fatalities and Injuries Across Canada, 2016, and Figure 12.2, Occupational Health and Safety in Canada.

B. Duties and Responsibilities Duties of Employers  Employers must provide a hazard-free workplace and comply with the applicable statutes and regulations.  Employers must inform their employees about safety and health requirements, keep certain records, compile an annual summary of work-related injuries and illnesses, and ensure supervisors are familiar with potential hazards.  Employers are required to report to the Workers‘ Compensation Board all accidents that cause injuries and diseases.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 12.1: Health and Safety Checklist for New Employees for a list of health and safety procedures for new employees.

Duties of Workers  Employees are required to comply with all regulations, to report hazardous conditions or defective equipment, and to follow employer safety and health rules and regulations, including those prescribing the use of protective equipment.  Workers have the right to refuse unsafe work without fear of reprisal.

Duties of Supervisors  Advise employees of potential workplace hazards.  Ensure that workers use or wear safety equipment, devices, or clothing.  Provide written instructions and take every reasonable precaution to ensure the safety of workers.

Duties of Joint Health and Safety Committees  Most jurisdictions require that health and safety committees be set up with both union and management representation.

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Joint Health and Safety Committees: Health and safety committees are often formed to create an environment in which union and management may establish a nonadversarial climate for creating a safe and healthy workplace. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 12.2: A World Leader in Health and Safety for how Novopharm put health and safety on the strategic agenda.

Penalties for Employer Noncompliance  The penalties for violating occupational health and safety regulations vary across the provinces and territories. Most health and safety acts provide for fines up to $500 000, and offenders can be sent to jail. Bill C-45 makes it possible for criminal charges to be brought against co-workers, supervisors, and executives when a worker is killed or injured on the job.

Workers’ Compensation 

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Under workers‘ compensation, injured workers can receive benefits in the form of a cash payout (if the disability is permanent) or wage loss payments (if the worker can no longer earn the same amount of money). Unlimited medical aid is also provided, along with vocational rehabilitation, which includes physical, social, and psychological services.

An industrial disease is a disease resulting from exposure to a substance relating to a particular process, trade, or occupation in industry. 

In-Class Movie or Homework Assignment: Ask students to watch the movie Erin Brockovich, a 2000 biographical film that dramatizes the true story of Erin Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts, who fought against the energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Read about the basic plot here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich_%28film%29. Ask students to summarize the film, and provide reasons—from the point of view of all parties—for this disaster.

Promoting a Safe Work Environment A. Creating a Culture of Safety  Pre-Class Assignment: Ask students to identify safety programs at your college or university. Ask students to bring information about them to class.  Probably the most important role of a safety awareness program is motivating managers, supervisors, and subordinates to be champions of safety considerations.  If managers and supervisors fail to demonstrate awareness, their subordinates can hardly be expected to do so.  

Call-Out Question: To stimulate class interest in safety and to provide some specific examples of unsafe working conditions or practices, ask students about unsafe work practices with which they are familiar.

Guest Speaker: Invite a safety manager from a local organization to be a guest speaker in class.

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Organizations use a variety of communication techniques to promote safety awareness: safety lectures, posters, seminars, videos and films, and various printed materials.

Interviewing for Safety and the Key Role of the Supervisor  Encourage supervisors to incorporate safety into their interviews with job candidates.  Supervisors must continually monitor the safety behaviour of employees and provide prompt corrective measures when action is needed.  Failure to take immediate action can signal to employees that unsafe work behaviour is tolerated.  Where unsafe acts are detected, supervisors should take immediate action to find the cause.

Proactive Safety Training Program  Stress that safety training programs begin with identifying the special safety needs of employees.  Employees show a greater acceptance of safety awareness programs when they feel a sense of ownership in the design and implementation of the instructional program. 

Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Workplace Safety and Young Workers. See sample solutions to the discussion questions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

B. Enforcing Safety Rules  The textbook lists the typical areas for safety rules.  Note that penalties for violation of safety rules are usually stated in the employee handbook so no one can say they were not informed.  Safety managers understand that the most effective enforcement of safety rules occurs when employees are actively involved in the organization‘s safety program. The textbook highlights ways to involve employees in safety issues. Review these with students, emphasizing their importance.  Figure 12.3: Steps in a Successful Safety Incentive Program illustrates how employers can get employees involved in creating a safer workplace.  Opportunities for employee involvement include the following:  jointly setting safety standards with management  participation in safety training  involvement in designing and implementing special safety training programs  involvement in establishing safety incentives and rewards  inclusion in accident investigations C. Investigating and Recording Accidents  Every accident should be investigated by the supervisor and a member of the safety committee.  Such an investigation may determine the factors contributing to the accident and reveal what corrections are needed to prevent it from happening again.  Incidence rate = (Number of injuries  employee hourly base)/Total hours worked by all employees. clviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to discuss why organizations may not wish to report health and safety accidents. Provide students with a copy of Ethics in HRM: Bury the Record to see how organizations that investigate their own accidents often face more inspections, higher insurance premiums, and possible lawsuits.

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Reality Check: CN Centre for Occupational Health and Safety for a perspective on psychosocial issues in the Canadian workplace.

Controlling and Eliminating Health Hazards Safety Hazards and Issues A. Fatigue  Fatigue may not result in ―life or death‖ consequences for most jobs. Managers, employees, and the public are concerned about how it affects workplace safety and performance.

B. Distracted Driving  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Highlights in HRM 12.3: Texting While Driving: A Sample HR Policy gives an example of a policy developed by AT&T regarding texting while driving.

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C. Workplace Violence Forms of violence include the following:  threatening behaviour, such as shaking fists or throwing objects  verbal or written threats harassment—any behaviour that demeans, embarrasses, or humiliates  verbal abuse, including swearing, insults, or condescending language  physical attacks, including hitting, shoving, pushing, or kicking 

  

Call-Out Question: The textbook lists ―risk factors‖ associated with higher incidents of work-related violence. Ask students what these might be, and then review the list given in the textbook. Answers should include (a) interacting with the public; (b) making decisions that influence other people‘s lives, e.g., terminating an employee or assigning a failing grade; supervising and/or disciplining others; working nights or working alone; handling cash, handling or guarding valuables, or collecting or delivering items of value; caring for the physical or emotional needs of others or going to clients‘ homes; serving or selling alcohol or dealing with individuals under the influence of mind-altering substances.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety suggests a few preventive measures. They include workplace design, administrative practices, and work practices.

Review these with students.

Figure 12.4: Violence Indicators: Know the Warning Signs gives indicators of workplace violence. Review this important figure with students.

Under common law, an employer may be held liable for the actions of employees. 

YouTube Video Clip: OSHA developed a 20-minute training video on workplace violence. Develop a Q&A sheet so that students can take notes on important points during the video. Take up the questions and answers after the video: Is it worth your life? Workplace violence prevention: youtube.com/watch?v=aKttrVw6HKo&feature=related.

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YouTube Video Clip: Use this video clip developed by the Ontario government to educate people about Ontario Bill 168: Workplace Violence Prevention: youtube.com/watch?v=s2rboi5Dop8.

D. Workplace Bullying Bullying is defined as the unwanted and ongoing negative actions of one or more persons against another within the workplace. One study finds that up to 47 percent of employees suffer from some sort of ridicule and bullying from their peers and superiors, and 42 percent of them encounter these negative behaviours quite frequently.  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Go to the Huffington Post website and find upto-date news articles on Workplace Bullying: huffingtonpost.com/news/workplacebullying/.

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E. Workplace Emergencies Include floods, hurricanes, fires, terrorism, and so on.  

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Call-Out Question: Ask students what the protocol for emergencies is in their organization. If they don‘t know it, why not?

Use Highlights in HRM 12.4: Emergency Readiness Checklist to show students a sample checklist.

Integrating Research: Share with students the findings of Bacharach and Bamerger (2007) who examined 9/11 and New York City Firefighters‘ post-hoc unit support and control climates. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

F. Crisis Management Teams Crisis management teams are responsible for the following:  Conduct initial risk assessment surveys.  Develop action plans to respond to violent situations.  Perform crisis intervention during violent encounters. 

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Role-Play: Develop a fictitious scenario where an employee is angry with his or her colleague for arriving late to a meeting. Provide one student with a script that will guide them to behave in an angry fashion. Next, provide students with a copy of Figure 12.5: Calming an Angry Employee to see whether they used any of the techniques suggested for dealing with an angry employee. Ask students to role-play again, but this time using the tips in how they respond.

Think-Pair-Share: Provide students with a copy of a short interview with Lee Clark published in the Harvard Business Review. Ask students to generate how organizations can do more than create ―symbolic plans‖ to deal with crisis. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Creating a Healthy Work Environment A. Ergonomics Focuses on ensuring that jobs are designed for safe and efficient work while improving the safety, comfort, and performance of users (refer to Chapter 4).  

See Figure 12.6: Key Elements for a Successful Ergonomics Program.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 1 as the basis for this think-pair-share: Ergonomics-related injuries now account for over 40 percent of lost-time injuries in the province of Ontario. Prepare a list of the most common types of ergonomics-related injuries and then make suggestions about how employers can reduce these types of injuries. See sample solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

B. Cumulative Trauma Disorders Injuries involving tendons of the fingers, hands, and arms that become inflamed from repeated stresses and strains (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome).

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C. Computer Workstation Issues Visual difficulties, muscular aches and pains, and job stress. 

Connectivity Activity: First ask students to ―Freeze‖ (not move a muscle)! Then ask students the questions found in Figure 12.7: Computer Workstation Ergonomics Checklist about their classroom ergonomics. What about at home, or in the library?

D. Chemical Hazards Discuss with students information about the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS). It is based on three elements: labels, material safety data sheets (MSDSs), and training.

E. Smoking and Tobacco Smoke It has been documented that health care costs are higher for smokers; for this reason, some employers are charging smokers more for extended health insurance or are reducing their benefits. Many employers, however, prefer positive reinforcement through wellness programs to encourage employees to stop smoking.

Building Better Physical and Emotional Health among Employees  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use the Business Case: Investing in Employee Health to give an example of how a Canadian bank invests in the health of its employees.

A. Depression in the Workplace Depression is a negative emotional state marked by feelings of low spirits, gloominess, sadness, and loss of pleasure in ordinary activities. It is a major emotional problem affecting employees, which if left untreated will cause problems in work performance. Fortunately, with proper care, persons with depression can be cured in a relatively short period of time. 

Think-Pair-Share: Discuss with students the indicators of depression given in Highlights in HRM 12.5: Depression in the Workplace, which also discusses what managers can do to help depressed individuals.

B. Alcoholism Employers must recognize that alcoholism is a disease that follows a rather predictable course, and so specific actions can be taken. Remind students that alcoholism is classified as a disability and employers must be governed by Human Rights legislation in the area as with any other disability (see Chapter 3).

C. Drug Abuse Note that drug abuse among employees is one of the major societal issues of today. It is found in all levels of employees, from top management to the lowest echelons. Human rights legislation prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, and drug and alcohol dependency is generally considered to be a disability. clxii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Guest Speaker: Invite a specialist in drug abuse treatment to speak to the class. A local organization may have an EAP staff member who would be available for that purpose.

Job Stress and Burnout 

Stress is any adjustive demand caused by physical, mental, or emotional factors that require coping behaviour.  Eustress is positive stress that accompanies achievement and exhilaration.  Distress is harmful stress characterized by a loss of feelings of security and adequacy.  Integrating Research: Use Houghton and colleagues‘ (2012) article on student stress to show an interesting theoretical model that can be discussed in class. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Job-Related Stress 

Connectivity Activity: Divide students into teams of five or six, and have them identify and discuss causes of job-related stress. Have the teams report their findings to the entire class and compare team findings. Relate this to the four factors that have a major influence on employee stress: (1) High demand—having too much to do in a short time; (2) High effort—having to expend too much mental or physical energy over too long a period; (3) Low control—having too little influence over the way a job is done; (4) Low reward—receiving inadequate feedback on performance and no recognition for a job well done.

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Burnout is the most severe stage of distress, manifesting itself in depression, frustration, and loss of productivity. It is due primarily to a lack of personal fulfillment in the job or a lack of positive feedback about performance.

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Coping with Stress  Many employers have developed stress management programs to teach employees how to minimize the negative effects of job-related stress.  Discuss the following organizational techniques: clarifying an individual‘s work role, redesigning and enriching jobs, correcting physical factors in the environment, and effectively handling interpersonal factors.  Figure 12.8: Tips for Reducing Job-Related Stress describes different techniques to reduce job-related stress.  

Connectivity Activity: Use HRM Experience: Reducing Employee Stress to get students thinking about the causes of stress, and how to cope with it at work and at school.

Case Study: Use Case Study 2: Too Much Fatigue and Job Stress? to examine how managers should deal with conflicting medical opinions about an employee‘s ability to return to work after a leave due to depression. See the recommended responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

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Integrating Research: Discuss Seligman‘s (2011) program called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which has three components: the Global Assessment Tool, a test for psychological fitness; self-improvement courses following the test; and ―master resilience training‖ (MRT) for drill sergeants. MRT focuses on enhancing mental toughness, highlighting and honing strengths, and fostering strong relationships—core competencies for any successful manager. See the full citation for this article published in the Harvard Business Review in Recommended Reading.

Finishing Class   

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Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students to respond to Discussion Question 4: Many students, balancing school, work, and family demands, experience stress. Consult the Canadian Mental Health Association website (https://www.cmha.ca/) to determine your level of stress. What are some coping mechanisms that you use? Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Another option for an online discussion form could be: Should you come to work when you are sick? How sick do you have to be to stay home?

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics. Remind students that they will not be able to work without making contributions to discussions.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading     

Bacharach, S.B., & Bamerger, P.A. 9/11 and New York City Firefighters‘ post-hoc unit support and control climates: A context theory of the consequences of involvement in traumatic work-related events. Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 849–868.

Houghton, J., Wu, J., Godwin, J., Neck, C., & Manz, C. (2012). Effective stress management: A model of emotional intelligence, self-leadership, and student stress coping.

Journal of Management Education, 36(2), 220–238.

Roche, E., Fox, J., Kaufer, S., Pearson, C., Porath, C., & Schouten, R. (2003). Do something—he‘s about to snap. Harvard Business Review, 81(7) 23–31.

Seligman, M.E.P. (2011). Building resilience, Harvard Business Review, 89(4), 100–106.

Harvard Business Review. (2004). What‘s the plan? 82(6), 21–22.

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Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Ergonomics-related injuries now account for over 40 percent of lost-time injuries in the province of Ontario. Prepare a list of the most common types of ergonomics-related injuries, and then make suggestions about how employers can reduce these types of injuries. Ergonomics is an interdisciplinary approach to designing equipment and systems that can be easily and efficiently used by human beings such as computers, chairs, desks, and so forth. Students should prepare a list of the most common types of ergonomicsrelated injuries and present this list in class. Employers could reduce these types of injuries by providing notice and training for employees, conducting pre-injury hazard assessment, involving employees, planning and executing, filing injury reports, and evaluating and assessing the ergonomics program.

2. Learn about the safety programs at your institution. In what ways do you think they might be similar to safety programs in the workplace? In what ways might they be different?

Provide students with a URL to your university‘s health and safety procedures.

3. An unhealthy work environment can lower productivity, contribute to low morale, and increase medical and workers’ compensation costs. Working individually or in teams, list specific ways managers can do the following: (a) Help individual employees avoid repetitive strain injuries caused by prolonged computer use. (b) Deal with employee complaints about sick building syndrome. (c) Address employee fears caused by pandemics. (a) These include: place the computer screen 10–25 cm below eye level. Keep the monitor directly in front of you. Sit in an adjustable-height chair and use a copyholder that attaches to both the desk and the monitor. Use a screen with adjustable brightness and contrast controls. Use shades or blinds to reduce the computer-screen glare created by window lighting. (b) Some ideas include monitor air quality, clean the ventilation system, remove sources of pollution, document health concerns of employees, look for visible signs of black mould, do not permit tobacco in the building, and check drinking water quality. (c) Employers should have materials available to employees on information regarding AIDS. Books, pamphlets, and films are readily available. Also, all organizations should have a policy on AIDS. This policy should be widely communicated to employees.

4. Many students, balancing school, work, and family demands, experience stress. Consult the Canadian Mental Health Association website (https://www.cmha.ca/) to determine your level of stress. What are some coping mechanisms that you use? Students can refer to Figure 12.8: Tips for Reducing Job-Related Stress, which describes different techniques to reduce job-related stress.

5. Both unions and management express concern for the well-being of their employees.

However, union reaction to the proposed introduction of wellness initiatives is not always positive. Unions fear that information collected—for example, as part of an EAP—will be kept and used against the employee experiencing performance problems. They also state that the real culprit in any employee health issue is the work context, not employee behaviour or lifestyle. So even if employees exercise and stop smoking, work hazards still remain. Unions also fear reprisals for those employees unwilling to participate in clxv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

programs, particularly where groups are provided with incentives for achieving program aims. As the HR manager responsible for the introduction of a wellness initiative, how would you deal with these concerns? This is a good exercise for using the Internet and researching union concerns regarding wellness initiatives.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Workplace Safety and Young Workers 1. Why are there more workplace injuries among those aged 16 to 25? This is open for discussion, but in all likelihood, increased accidents from younger workers result from lack of experience and the feeling of invincibility. Employers do not spend the time and money training this particular age group.

2. By law, workplace safety is the responsibility of the employer and employee. Why have nearly all provinces created courses in occupational health and safety as part of the high school curriculum? Should these be mandatory courses or electives? Again, this is open for discussion and could be very insightful for young students. Based on the accident rates, especially with young people, courses should be mandatory.

3. Check the website of the Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (http://www.wsps.ca), which has excellent information on occupational health and safety training programs.

Design a training program that an employer could provide to young workers. This is a good exercise to promote the relationship between safety and training, especially with young people.

Case Study 2: Too Much Fatigue and Job Stress?

1. When conflicting medical opinions are presented, should the advice of a medical expert count more heavily than the opinion of a general physician? Explain your answer. In some cases, employers receive conflicting medical opinions. In such situations, employment tribunals in the past in the main accepted that a ―reasonable employer‖ can rely on the view of a specialist, more so than a generalist. The cases supporting this view include Jones v.

The Post Office (2001) IRLR 381, and British Gas Plc. v Breeze EAT 503/87. In these cases, the following were crucial:  The employee was personally examined by the occupational health doctor or specialist, and the decision was not made merely on a report or on the basis of medical note.  The written report by the specialist was clear and specific.  The employee had been treated or is being treated by a specialist.  In some situations, it may be appropriate for the employer, particularly if requested by a union representative, to arrange a second specialist opinion from a different specialist.  The employer must establish that returning an individual to the workplace would not pose a serious threat to the health and safety of that employee or the health and safety of colleagues, visitors to the site, or the general public.

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2. Is the charge of discrimination presented by Donald’s lawyer relevant to this case?

Explain your answer. There is no evidence in the case that suggests that Donald was discriminated against.

3. If you were presented with this case, what decision would you reach? Explain. This question provides a venue for students to discuss how they would resolve the case. There is no right or wrong answer. Having students debate the position of both parties leads to a meaningful class discussion.

Chapter 13: Employee Rights and Discipline If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Both employees and employers enter into a contract with rights, whether the rights are expressed or implied.

Although many students may think about the word ―discipline‖ as equivalent to ―punishment,‖ many organizations are using discipline as a forum for coaching and improved performance.

Learning outcomes 1. Explain the different regimes that govern the employment relationship and the rules that apply to employment contracts.

2. Identify and explain the privacy rights of employees.

3. Establish disciplinary policies and differentiate between the two approaches to disciplinary action.

4. Identify the different types of alternative dispute resolution methods and procedures.

Why is this chapter important?

Although the rights of employees are those described in the employment contract, this is incomplete for the following reasons:  Many employment contracts are not written down, but are oral contracts.  Many important aspects of the employment relationship appear in the form of customs or practices, rather than as noted in the contract.  Common law judges have long shaped the scope of the employment contract by ―implying‖ contract terms.  Employment contracts may be limited, altered, or voided by a range of employment legislation through which the government intervenes in the employment relationship.

Furthermore, managers are discovering that the right to discipline and discharge employees is more difficult to exercise in light of the growing attention to employee rights. Disciplining employees is a difficult and unpleasant task for most managers. Balancing employee rights and clxvii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

employee discipline is a universal requirement and a critical aspect of good management.

Because the growth of employee rights issues has led to an increase in the number of lawsuits filed by employees, this chapter includes a discussion of alternative dispute resolution. Because ethics is an important element of organizational justice, the chapter concludes with a discussion of organizational ethics in employee relations.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

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Begin the class with a group activity. Use HRM Experience: Learning about Employee Rights to get students thinking about the employee and employer sides to issues relating to wrongful dismissal, employee monitoring, employee conduct outside the workplace, and email and Internet use at work and at home. In order to save on time, assign each group to a different topic. Ask students to record their responses on a flip chart or create a PowerPoint presentation to show the class.

Begin the class by presenting the case, ―The Layoff,‖ published in the Harvard Business Review. See this additional reference in Recommended Reading. It is a good case to use at this point in the semester if you have already covered compensation, performance management, and HR strategy. This is because it brings to light dismissal aspects of a layoff, which can be used to show how this class—on rights and discipline—fits into the ―bigger picture‖ of HRM. Use Discussion Question 1 to generate ideas about what rights employees have in Canada: Do you have a right to your job? What rights do you have with respect to employment? Jot the ideas on the board, and in reviewing the law (see below), refer to the ideas that students generated. See sample solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

The Three Regimes of Employment Law 1. The common law of employment—The common law of employment is the body of case law in which courts interpret employment contracts, and the legal principles taken from those cases that guide the interpretation of employment contracts. Implied contract terms are terms that judges read into employment contracts when the written contract does not expressly deal with the matter. 

In-Class Activity: Write seven fictitious mini-vignettes to illustrate seven important terms that courts have implied in employment contracts (Obligation of the employer and the employee to provide reasonable notice that they are terminating the contract; Obligation on the employer to maintain a safe workplace; Obligation on the employer to treat employees with decency, civility, respect, and dignity; Obligation on the clxviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

employee to serve the employer with loyalty and fidelity; Obligation on the employee to perform competently; Obligation on the employee to advance the employer‘s economic interests; Obligation on the employee to avoid insubordination and insolence). For example, a vignette for the first important term might be: ―Sally was thrilled to find out that she had been hired by ABC Company. Once ABC Company gave her an official offer of employment, she ran to her current boss at XYZ Company and told him that it was her last day on the job.‖ Provide each student with either a vignette or one of the important terms. Ask students to walk around the class and try to find someone who matches their vignette/important term.

2. Statutory employment regulation—When the outcomes of common law were not satisfactory, governments intervened by passing a large variety of legislation aimed at influencing the employment relationship. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Highlights in HRM 13.1: Take Notice! for an example of when the employment contract includes a notice of termination clause that provides for less notice than required by employment standards legislation.

3. Collective bargaining legislation and labour arbitration—Provide a preview of Chapter 14 to students by sharing that collective bargaining legislation, such as the Ontario Labour Relations Act, seeks to improve conditions of work by empowering workers to join together and bargain a better contract for themselves than is usually possible when an individual employee bargains with his or her employer. A collective agreement is an employment contract between an employer and a union that sets out the terms of a group of employer‘s employees represented by the union. A labour arbitrator is a person assigned to interpret and decide disputes (―grievances‖) about the meaning, interpretation, and application of collective agreements governing employees in a unionized workplace. 

Call-Out Question: Does common law apply to a collective agreement? The common law of employment does not apply to a collective agreement. The implied term permitting an employer to terminate an employee by giving reasonable notice does not apply when the employees are unionized. Another important difference between a collective agreement and an individual employment contract is the method of enforcement. A nonunion employee must sue the employer in a court for breach of contract. A unionized employee must file a grievance alleging that the collective agreement has been violated.

See also Highlights in HRM 13.2: Caution with Contracts for some of the legal details that HR managers need to know about changing the terms of an employee‘s contract.

Understanding the Individual Employment Contract  

Explain to students that a valid employment contract requires ―mutual consideration,‖ which means that both parties to the contract must receive some benefit in exchange.

Why should employers provide employees with a contract before they start working? If they don‘t, then they have entered into a ―verbal contract,‖ so that if an employer changes clxix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.



the term of the employment contract, it might be interpreted as breach of contract, leading to accusations of constructive dismissal.

Constructive dismissal is when an employer commits a fundamental breach of contract, such as by unilaterally changing a key term of the contract. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See The Business Case: The Danger of Changing a Contract Term without the Employee’s Agreement, and ask students what employers need to do to change the employment contract legitimately. They should mention the importance of obtaining the employee‘s agreement to the change, and providing the employee with some new consideration (benefit); or terminating the employment contract in its entirety by giving the required notice of termination, and then offering a new contract on the revised terms.

The Rules Governing Dismissal 1. Dismissal of a Nonunion Employee: Wrongful Dismissal  Under the common law of employment, either the employer or the employee can terminate the employment contract by providing the other side with the amount of notice specified in the contract. Review summary dismissal (when a nonunion employer terminates an employee without notice because the employee has committed a serious breach of the contract), and wrongful dismissal (a lawsuit filed in a court by an employee alleging that he or she was dismissed without proper contractual or reasonable notice).  Statutory Regulation of Dismissal—The common law entitlement of employers to dismiss a nonunion employee for any reason by giving proper notice has been restricted in a number of ways by government intervention. Statutes prohibit employers from dismissing employees for discriminatory reasons according to human rights legislation and labour relations legislation. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Figure 13.2: Firing Back! to read about a nonunion employee‘s response to potentially being fired.

2. Dismissal of a Unionized Employee: Just Cause  Most collective agreements confer a right on employers to lay off workers, although they regulate the selection of the employees to be laid off, and the order of recalls.  Unlike a nonunion employer, a unionized employer needs a reason to dismiss an employee given that there is ―just cause‖ to do so.  Labour arbitrators expect employers to apply progressive discipline before dismissing a unionized employee, except when the employee‘s misconduct is particularly serious. 

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 2 as a basis for a think-pair-share: In what ways, if any, does a unionized employee have greater protection from dismissal than a nonunion employee in the Canadian model? Do you think that is fair or not?

Why? See recommended responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

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  

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Figure 13.1: Tips to Consider When Dismissing a Nonunionized Employee with Cause or a Unionized Employee with Just Cause.

Case Study: Use Case Study 2: Dismissing an Employee for Absenteeism to generate student thinking about justice issues in relation to dismissal. See recommended responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Clickers or MCQ on slides: Create multiple-choice style questions using Highlights in HRM 13.3 Overview of Regimes Governing Dismissals to test students‘ knowledge.

Employee Privacy Rights Privacy Issues at the Workplace  A right of privacy at work has been recognized in various degrees under all three regimes of employment law. Many employees are unaware that their employers can monitor what they do online and fire or discipline them based on that information.  Connectivity Discussion: What are the privacy settings on your Facebook page? Do you think your employer, or prospective employer, should be allowed to look at it?  Call-Out Question: Show Figure 13.3: Employee Monitoring Practices to determine the types of monitoring going on in the workplace, and ask students the extent to which they believe employees should be entitled to privacy in their relationship with their employer. What are the limits?  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Share with students two recent court cases: (1) an employee with 18 years of service was terminated for using the company Internet for personal purposes, including accessing pornography; (2) an employee with 15 years of service was found to have been using the company Internet to manage his own unrelated travel business, for up to two hours a day on company time, using company computers. These appear to be pretty straightforward cases, but what if the employee in case (1) was not looking at pornography, but merely reading the newspaper instead?

What if the employee in case (2) was looking at childcare options?  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Case Study 1: Managing Confidential Information. Then show students an example of BMW Canada‘s privacy policy at bmw.ca/ca/en/general/privacy_policy/content.html. 

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) regulates an employer‘s collection and dissemination of information about employees, as well as the right of employees to access their personnel files.  

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Figure 13.4: Email, Computer, and Voice Mail: Policy Guidelines.

Call-Out Question: Use Discussion Question 4: Under what conditions can an employer monitor employees? Ask a group of working students the following questions: • Are you monitored at work?

• What types of monitoring are used?

• For what purposes does your employer monitor the workplace clxxi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

• Do you object to the monitoring? If so, why? If not, why not?

See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.  Case Study: Use Marx and colleagues‘ (1990) case study from the Harvard Business Review as a basis for class discussion on employee surveillance. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Employee Conduct Outside the Workplace  Debate: Ask students to debate the pros and cons of employee surveillance. Then ask students to read Ethics in HRM: Supervising or Super-Spying and Highlights in HRM 13.4: The Long Arm of the Employer to see whether their perceptions or standpoints have changed.  Case Study: Use Case Study 3: Discharged for Off-Duty Behaviour to illustrate the complexities involved with discharging employees for off-duty behaviour that is morally questionable.

Disciplinary Policies and Procedures 

Connectivity Discussion Question: What are the disciplinary policies and procedures at your school/college/university? In what ways do you think they might be similar to those implemented in the workplace? In what ways do you think they might be different?

The Results of Inaction  Use Figure 13.5: A Disciplinary Model as a guide to disciplinary action. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use Figure 13.6: Common Disciplinary Problems to outline some of the more common disciplinary problems in the workplace. Failure to take action in any of these areas serves only to aggravate a problem that still must be resolved eventually.

Setting Organizational Rules  Small Group Discussion: The setting of organizational rules is the foundation for an effective disciplinary system. But how are rules determined? Ask students to form groups and generate a ―Rules for Rules‖ list. Ask students to choose one or two, and write them on the board. Ensure that all points from the textbook are included in the debrief of this exercise. (Rules should: (a) be widely disseminated to all employees; (b) not assume that everyone knows them; (c) be reviewed periodically; (d) always be explained; (e) be explained in terms of the rationale for the rule; (f) be written; (g) be reasonable and relate to safety or efficiency; (h) be reinforced; (i) be read, and employees should sign a document stating that they have read the rules.) 

Call-Out Question: Ask students what the word ―discipline‖ means to them. Discipline is (1) treatment that punishes; (2) orderly behaviour in an organizational setting; or (3) training that moulds, and strengthens—or corrects undesirable conduct—and develops self-control. The third definition is the one to be used in the disciplinary process. Discipline clxxii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

should have as its goal improved employee performance or behaviour. Applying discipline should be a logical extension of the training process. Punishment is that action (written reprimand, suspension, etc.) taken against employees when they fail to improve their performance voluntarily. Punishment, however, is not the intent of disciplinary action.

Investigating the Disciplinary Problem  Use Figure 13.7: Considerations in Disciplinary Investigations to review the seven considerations in disciplinary investigations.

Documenting Misconduct The Investigative Interview  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 6 as the basis of a think-pair-share: You have discovered that an employee has not been keeping client files updated, as is required by your company policy. Outline the steps that you would use to deal with this performance problem. See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.  Share Research: Professor Nina Cole at Ryerson University published a paper on consistency in employee discipline in Personnel Review (see the full citation in Recommended Reading). Share with students how Cole carried out the study, and the findings. Alternatively, provide students with Cole‘s hypotheses, and see whether they can guess which were supported by the data.  Making Explicit Real World Links: For an example of a policy on discipline, see CBC/Radio-Canada‘s policy: cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/reporting-to-canadians/acts-andpolicies/management/human-resources/2-2-10/.

Approaches to Disciplinary Action 1. Progressive Discipline—Progressive discipline is the application of corrective measures by increasing degrees; it is used most by organizations.

Call-Out Question: Ask students to list the steps of progressive discipline and write them on the board. Review the definition of progressive discipline given in the textbook and discuss its intended purpose. Explain that each step in progressive discipline does not always have to be followed. The sequence and severity of the disciplinary action will depend on the type of offence. For example, employees can be immediately fired for theft without being given an oral warning.

2. Positive Discipline—Positive discipline is a system of discipline that focuses on early correction of employee misconduct, with the employee taking total responsibility for correcting the problem.

Informing the Employee  Role-Play: Pair students and ask them to provide a scenario in which a manager must dismiss an employee for reasons of poor performance. Provide students with the guidelines in advance (e.g., come to the point in the first 2 to 3 minutes; list all the reasons for the termination logically; be straightforward and firm, yet tactful; make the discussion private, clxxiii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

businesslike, and brief; do not mix the good with the bad; avoid making accusations against the employee; avoid bringing up any personality differences; provide information concerning severance pay; explain how you will handle employment inquiries in the future). 

YouTube Video Clip: This is a good informational video on discipline using a positive approach. How to Discipline an Employee at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49CFNt4g_vE. Ask students to take notes on the ―todo‘s‖ in discipline from the video, and then compare them with those found in the textbook. Is anything missing?

Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures  Call-Out Question: Ask students if they work for a nonunion organization that has developed an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedure. Have them describe the procedure to the class.  YouTube video: Here‘s a fun video to show in class which defines ADR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kKAOIiS5GA. Step-Review Systems Step-Review System—a system for reviewing employee complaints and disputes by successively higher levels of management.  

   

Use Figure 13.8: Conventional Step-Review Appeal Procedure to illustrate a typical stepreview appeals procedure.

Peer-Review System—a system for reviewing employee complaints that utilizes a group composed of equal numbers of employee representatives and management appointees, which functions as a jury because its members weigh evidence, consider arguments, and, after deliberation, vote independently to render a final decision.

Open-Door Policy—a policy of settling grievances that identifies various levels of management above the immediate supervisor for employee contact.

Ombudsperson System—An ombudsperson is a designated individual from whom employees may seek counsel for resolution of their complaints.

Mediation—the use of a mediator (an impartial neutral) to reach a compromise decision in employment disputes.

Arbitration—Arbitration is discussed in depth in Chapter 14. 

 

Small Group Discussion: In each small group, ask students to determine what failures in dispute resolution have to occur in order to proceed to the next step. Ask them to consider how important it is to resolve issues early to prevent escalation.

Role-Play: Use Cousins‘s (1999) article to inspire a role-play in class. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 8 as a basis for this think-pair-share: What do you think would constitute an effective ADR system? What benefits would you expect from such a system? If you were asked to rule on a discharge case, what facts

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would you analyze in deciding whether to uphold or reverse the employer’s action? See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Managerial Ethics in Employee Relations 

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Small Group Discussion: Ask students for examples of ethical differences in managing of human resources across diverse cultures. For example, in some countries, nepotism (the hiring of relatives) is highly regarded and expected. Discuss how this situation works in Canadian organizations. How should ethical differences across cultures be handled by managers?

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 9 as a basis for a think-pair-share: In groups, discuss whether the following situations are fair or not fair: (a) Zabeen was using the company Internet to locate a nursing home for her increasingly handicapped father. Her supervisor observed this and verified it with the information technology unit. Zabeen was given a written reprimand. Meanwhile, Sonia used the company telephone to do her personal banking and bill paying and was not reprimanded. (b) Anthony spent his lunch hour at the gym, consisting of a strenuous workout program with a personal trainer.

Meanwhile, Nicholas met his friends for lunch, sharing several beers at the local pub. Both employees felt fatigued in the afternoon, and their diminished productivity was noticed by their supervisor. Nicholas was asked to meet with his supervisor to review performance standards and received a verbal warning. Anthony was not. See sample responses in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

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Finishing Class 

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Ask students to visit the following website to review the PIPEDA Privacy Principles: https://www.priv.gc.ca/leg_c/p_principle_e.asp. What are five new ideas you learned about privacy? Use this as a basis for online discussion, or as a short homework assignment.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students questions such as these: ―What is your personal dispute strategy? Do you acquiesce and let the other person win? Or do you hold your ground and dig in for a good fight? Or something in-between?‖ Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics. Remind students that they will not be able to work without making contributions to discussions.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading     

Cole, N. (2008). Consistency in employee discipline: An empirical exploration. Personnel Review, 37(1), 109–117.

Cousins, R. (1999). Demonstrating Mediation (OB‘s Forgotten Topic) Through the Use of Role Playing. Journal of Management Education, 27(1), 49–59.

Fryer, B., Stybel, L.J., Peabody, M., Dormann, J., & Sutton, R.I. (2009). The Layoff.

Harvard Business Review, 87(3), 33–40.

Marx, G.T., Moderow, J., Zuboff, S., Howard, B., & Nussbaum, K. (1990). The Case of the Omniscient Organization. Harvard Business Review, 68(2), 12–30.

Stanton, J.M. (2000). Reactions to employee performance monitoring: Framework, review, and research directions. Human Performance, 13(1), 85–113.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Do you have a right to your job? What rights do you have with respect to employment?

Drug testing, email usage, and employee searches and surveillance are three prominent areas where employee rights and employer responsibilities can come into conflict. Other areas could include genetic testing and off-duty conduct. Conflict can arise between employees and employers when employees believe their behaviour is their personal concern and not subject to employer suspicion or infringement. Employers, however, cite their responsibility to run their business in a safe and efficient manner as a defence against unlimited employee rights. For example, employees might believe they have a privacy right to their personal clxxvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

email messages, and object to management‘s actions, which routinely monitors the email of all employees. Ask students for other areas of possible conflict.

2. In what ways, if any, does a unionized employee have greater protection from dismissal than a nonunion employee in the Canadian model? Do you think that is fair or not? Why? In Canada, a unionized employee is protected by the collective agreement, whereas a nonunion employee does not have such protection and therefore requires the interpretation of other employment legislation. On one hand, the unionized employee appears to have an upper hand, but if the employee‘s situation is not covered within the collective agreement, he or she will have little recourse for a resolution since the presence of the contract, in many cases, supersedes the other areas of legislation.

3. What is the difference between just cause in a unionized environment and summary dismissal in a nonunionized environment? Just cause in a unionized environment means that an employer must find without doubt a justifiable reason for an employee to be dismissed. This means that the employer must provide objective evidence of incompetence by the employee. Cause for summary dismissal in a non-unionized environment occurs when an employer terminates an employee without notice because the employee has committed a serious breach of the contract.

• • • •

4. Under what conditions can an employer monitor employees? Ask a group of working students the following questions: Are you monitored at work?

What types of monitoring are used?

For what purposes does your employer monitor the workplace?

Do you object to the monitoring? If so, why? If not, why not?

An employer can monitor an employee‘s action as a means of safeguarding the organization‘s assets. As long as the employer regards the privacy needs of employees while monitoring their work, this is acceptable because the intention is to protect assets.

5. What are the privacy settings on your Facebook page? Do you think that your employer or prospective employer should be allowed to look at your page? This is a controversial subject, and there is currently legal action being taken in the United States by Facebook, as well as prospective employees who did not get a job because of their Facebook information.

6. You have discovered that an employee has not been keeping client files updated, as is required by your company policy. Outline the steps that you would use to deal with this performance problem. Without full and correct documentation, managers are unable to support the disciplinary action taken against employees. Complete documentation would include (1) the date, time, and location of the misconduct; (2) a description of the misconduct or the organizational rule violated; (3) names of witnesses, if present; (4) the effect of the misconduct on the employee‘s work unit; and (5) what the supervisor told the employee and what disciplinary action was taken.

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7. Discuss why documentation is so important to the disciplinary process. What constitutes correct documentation? Correct documentation is objective evidence that can be verified from multiple sources. It is based on fact rather than opinion, and it leads to a clear conclusion without interpretation.

8. What do you think would constitute an effective ADR system? What benefits would you expect from such a system? If you were asked to rule on a discharge case, what facts would you analyze in deciding whether to uphold or reverse the employer’s action? The following should be included in an effective dispute resolution system: (a) Step-review system—a step-review system is a system for reviewing employee complaints and disputes by successively higher levels of management. (b) Peer-review systems—a peer-review system is a system for reviewing employee complaints that utilizes a group composed of equal numbers of employee representatives and management appointees, which functions as a jury because its members weigh evidence, consider arguments, and, after deliberation, vote independently to render a final decision. (c) Open-door policy—an open-door policy is a policy of settling grievances that identifies various levels of management above the immediate supervisor for employee contact. (d) Ombudsperson system—an ombudsperson is a designated individual from whom employees may seek counsel for resolution of their complaints. (e) Mediation—mediation is the use of an impartial neutral to reach a compromise decision in employment disputes. A mediator is a third party in an employment dispute who meets with one party and then the other in order to suggest compromise solutions or to recommend concessions from each side that will lead to an agreement. (f) Arbitration—a labour arbitrator is a person assigned to interpret and decide disputes (―grievances‖) about the meaning, interpretation, and application of a collective agreement governing employees in a unionized workplace.

9. In groups, discuss whether the following situations are fair or not fair: a. Zabeen was using the company Internet to locate a nursing home for her increasingly incapacitated father. Her supervisor observed this and verified it with the information technology unit. Zabeen was given a written reprimand. Meanwhile, Sonia used the company telephone to do her personal banking and bill paying and was not reprimanded. Both employees abused company resources similarly, so both should have been disciplined the same to be fair. b. Anthony spent his lunch hour at the gym, consisting of a strenuous workout program with a personal trainer. Meanwhile, Nicholas met his friends for lunch, sharing several beers at the local pub. Both employees felt fatigued in the afternoon, and their diminished productivity was noticed by their supervisor. Nicholas was asked to meet with his supervisor to review performance standards and received a verbal warning.

Anthony was not. Employees are expected to be equally productive at all times of the day, so possibly the strenuous workout and the beer-drinking incident were equal violations. However, exercise is promoted as a beneficial use of lunch hour time, while the consumption of alcohol is typically prohibited.

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Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Managing Confidential Information 1. The firm does not have a policy on privacy or the management of confidential information.

Develop one. This site on workplace privacy will be helpful: http://www.cippic.ca/workplace-privacy. See Figure 13.4: Email, Computer, and Voice Mail: Policy Guidelines to ensure that students have met all of the requirements for an effective policy on privacy and the management of confidential information.

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2. Using the questions in Figure 13.7, prepare for a meeting with Ms. Dumouchel.

Management should fully understand the charge in advance of the interview with Ms. Dumouchel by interviewing employees who are accusing her of such behaviour.

Management should be wary of employees who appear to have a vendetta against her.

Management should also look into whether there are formal rules that she violated and discern whether it is reasonable that Ms. Dumouchel knew about such rules, if they do in fact exist. It is important that Ms. Dumouchel is warned for this offence at least once before any formal disciplinary charges are enforced. In determining whether she is guilty, management should ask (a) what are the sources of the facts (are they reliable?) (b) is there direct or only indirect evidence of guilt? (c) has anyone talked to her to hear her side of the story? Finally, before the interview, management should know the employee‘s record as a whole, and in particular, her disciplinary record. At the beginning of the interview, the interviewer should state, in very specific terms, that Ms. Dumouchel has been accused of disclosing confidential information to employees. The interviewer should ask Ms. Dumouchel whether this information is true, regardless of whether she believed it was ―right‖ or ―wrong.‖ She should be asked about any extenuating circumstances around it (e.g., did a manager ask her to disclose the information).

Case Study 2: Dismissing an Employee for Absenteeism 1. Do you think the employer should be entitled to dismiss Mr. Keays without giving him reasonable notice? No, the employer should not have dismissed Mr. Keays without giving him reasonable notice. Honda is a unionized environment and dismissing an employee would have been clearly laid out in the collective agreement.

2. Does an employer have a right to insist that employees submit to medical examinations by doctors chosen by the employer? No, the employer does not have a right to insist that an employee submit to medical exams by a doctor chosen by the employer.

3. If the doctors inform the employer that Mr. Keays’s absences are due to his chronic fatigue syndrome and that they are likely to continue in the future, should the employer be entitled to dismiss Mr. Keays? The Ontario Human Rights Code states that an employer has a duty to accommodate an employee‘s disability to the point of undue hardship. The employer would have to prove that the accommodations were unreasonable and clearly preventing the organization from reaching its goals and objectives, and if the costs persisted, would erode the viability of the company.

4. If Mr. Keays wins his wrongful dismissal case, will the court order Honda to reinstate him to his previous employment? Should it do that? No, the court will not order Honda to reinstate Mr. Keays in this wrongful dismissal case. Instead, it will order Honda to pay out financial consideration to Mr. Keays. Rarely will courts interfere and order an employer to hire back a dismissed employee. This is unfortunate because the other employees should see that the employer is being held accountable for its actions and will need to continue to treat the wrongfully dismissed employee with respect and dignity. As an aside, when the case did go to trial, Keays was awarded $500,000, although Honda appealed the decision clxxx Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

and the Ontario Court of Appeal reduced the award to $100,000. The court emphasized that human rights violations could be used to award punitive damages, even though no discrimination existed in law.

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Case Study 3: Discharged for Off-Duty Behaviour 1.

Given the facts of this case, should John have been discharged? Why or why not?

Normally, a nonunion employer does not need a reason to dismiss an employee. It can dismiss an employee at any time, for any reason (that is not a violation of a statute, such as human rights legislation) or for no reason at all. It just needs to give the employee the proper contractual or reasonable notice. In this case, the sales representative was not given notice, seemingly because he committed what the organization felt was gross misconduct (summary dismissal). However, this is a case of off-duty behaviour. Generally, an employer has no reach over the private lives of its employees; when an employee ―punches out,‖ he or she is no longer subject to the employer‘s control. Thus, both union and nonunion employers have been found to have lacked proper cause to dismiss employees who are arrested for activities unrelated to the workplace. However, when the employer can establish that the employee‘s off-duty conduct adversely impacts the economic interests of the employer, such as business reputation, or the employee‘s ability to perform his or her job, then the employer may be justified in taking action in response to that conduct. In this case, the organization would have to prove that the sales representative‘s behaviour caused damage to the reputation of the organization. At the end of the day, each case is unique. But it appears that the organization needed to (1) show that the behaviour adversely impacted its reputation, and (2) provided reasonable notice.

2.

Should the sales representatives of AEM be held to a higher standard of personal conduct than sales representatives for other types of organizations? Explain. The answer to this question is unclear, thereby making this question an excellent one for debate among students. For instance, it is unclear whether purchasing pornography from a legitimate store constitutes poor personal conduct. Additionally, the sales representative did not bring the pornography to his sales meetings with the representatives of the educational institutions.

3.

Should management have considered John’s past work record before deciding on discharge? Explain. Yes, management should have considered John‘s past work record, discussed the issue with him, and probably given him a verbal or written warning. John clearly did not realize that purchasing adult pornography from a legitimate store would jeopardize his relationship with the organization. Moreover, given his tenure with the organization, rules against shopping in stores that sell pornography were likely not widely disseminated within the organization.

Chapter 14: The Dynamics of Labour Relations If nothing else, my students should learn that… 

Unions are a central feature in Canadian society, especially in the public sector, and understanding the factors that lead to unionization, and the facilitators of an effective labour–management relationship, are crucial to many managers and HRM professionals today.

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

Although the most dramatic aspects of labour relations include certification, lockouts, and strikes, HR professionals and managers who work in a unionized environment spend most of their time focusing on the day-to-day operations of managing the collective agreement.

Learning outcomes 1. Identify and explain the federal and provincial legislation that provides the framework for labour relations.

2. Explain why employees join unions and describe the process by which unions organize employees and gain recognition as their bargaining agent.

3. Discuss the bargaining process and the bargaining goals and strategies of a union and an employer.

4. Differentiate the forms of bargaining power that a union and an employer may utilize to enforce their bargaining demands.

5. Describe a typical union grievance procedure and explain the basis for arbitration awards.

Why is this chapter important?

About 30 percent of all employees in Canada are unionized, with rates higher in the public sector (71 percent) than the private sector (16 percent). Unions and other labour organizations can affect the ability of managers to direct and control the various functions of HRM. For example, pay rates may be determined through union negotiations, or unions may impose restrictions on management‘s employee appraisal methods. Therefore, it is essential that managers in both the union and nonunion environment understand how unions operate and be thoroughly familiar with the important body of law governing labour relations. Remember, ignorance of labour legislation is no defence when managers and supervisors violate labour law.

The discussion of labour relations, probably more than any subject in HRM, tends to be heavily influenced by the attitudes and emotions of students. As long as emotionalism does not get out of hand, however, it can serve to generate active class participation by students. Since business students may tend to have a pro-management viewpoint, this phase of the course provides a good opportunity for students to hear the views of labour leaders. While union leaders may be forced to take a defensive position before the class and perhaps will experience some hostility from certain students, most leaders welcome an opportunity to appear as guest speakers and are quite articulate in defending union practices. When major public or private sector labour agreements are under negotiations or when major strikes are occurring, students are provided with some interesting topics for research and discussion.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous

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suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started  





As a supplement to the material covered in the textbook and class lectures, it may be profitable to invite a representative from a provincial labour relations board to speak to the class regarding situations in which a labour relations board would be called upon.

YouTube Video: Show students this video (The Future of Unions in Canada’s Private Sector) about the state of unions in Canada and projections about the future: http://www.labour-reporter.com/videodisplay/348-the-future-of-unions-in-canadasprivate-sector.

In advance of class, or during it, watch the documentary called ―Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price‖ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmnBbUjsPs). It can be watched for free on YouTube. In summary, the video demonstrates Walmart‘s anti-union practices, detrimental impacts on small businesses, insufficient environmental protection policies, and poor record on workers‘ rights in the United States and internationally. The film ends with interviews of community leaders that have prevented Walmart stores from being built in their communities, and an exhortation for others to do the same. Alternatively, use this video as the basis for a short assignment or reflective paper.

Use Taylor and Provitera‘s (2011) article entitled ―Teaching Labour Relations with Norma Rae.‖ Either ask students to watch the video Norma Rae in advance of class, or play it in class. Ask students to write a paper to document the union organizing process, union avoidance strategies, and unfair labour practices that were used by the actors in the film.

See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Government Regulation of Labour Relations 

Clickers: Use clickers to test students‘ knowledge of labour relations law by answering the questions in Highlights in HRM 14.1: Test Your Labour Relations Know-How.

The Industrial Relations Disputes and Investigation Act and the Labour Relations Code 

Review the Industrial Relations Disputes and Investigation Act. This act allowed workers to join unions, and for unions to become certified as bargaining agents, with the requirement that management recognize the certified union as a bargaining unit for member employees.



Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Unionization of Farm Workers to show how the Ontario government has thwarted farm workers‘ ability to unionize. Alternatively, use this case as a small group project. See the recommended responses in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.



Share the history of labour relations with students. The article entitled ―The Cradle of Collective Bargaining: History of Labour‖ at https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/cradle/ may be useful. clxxxiv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

The Labour Relations Process 

Use Figure 14.1: The Labour Relations Process to illustrate the four components that make up the labour relations process: (1) workers desire collective representation; (2) union begins its organizing campaign, which may lead to certification and recognition; (3) collective negotiations lead to a contract; and (4) the contract is administered.

Why Employees Unionize  Class Exercise: Divide the class into teams of four or five, and ask them to develop a list of all the reasons why workers may unionize. Place the list on the board, one suggestion for each group in round-robin fashion, until all ideas are given (e.g., economic needs [this is the most important], out of general dissatisfaction with managerial policies and practices, as a way to seek a voice in setting working conditions, and as a way to fulfill social and status needs).  Making Explicit Real-World Links: Students should take note that it is not easy for all workers to unionize as per Highlights in HRM 14.2: Homeworkers: Canada’s Invisible Labour Force.  Call-Out Question: Ask students whether it is possible to require people to join a union.

Many students may be surprised that in some cases, there is a ―closed shop,‖ which means that the collective agreement requires employees to join the union as a condition of employment.

Organizing Campaigns A formal campaign to unionize can be initiated by a union organizer or by employees (most are initiated by employees).

Organizing Steps While not all organizing drives are alike, most organizing campaigns follow a set series of steps that, when carried out successfully, can lead to unionization.

1. Employee/union contact 2. Initial organizational meeting 3. Formation of an in-house organizing committee  An important task of the committee is to have employees sign an authorization card indicating their willingness to be represented by a union in collective bargaining with their employer.

4. Application to a labour relations board 5. Issuance of a certificate by a labour relations board 6. Election of a bargaining committee and contract negotiations 

Case Study: Assign Case Study 2: Walmart Stores in Canada. See sample solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Employer and Union Tactics Define unfair labour practices (ULPs) as specific employer and union illegal practices that deny employees their rights and benefits under federal and provincial labour law. clxxxv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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 

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 4 as a basis for this think-pair-share: What are unfair labour practices? What are the consequences of unfair labour practices?

Use examples to explain your answer. See the sample solutions in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions.

Figure 14.2: Employer ―Don’ts‖ during Union Organizing Campaigns lists activities managers should avoid during an organizing drive.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See Reality Check: Walmart Avoiding Unionization at All Costs.

How Employees Become Unionized Explain that the common practice is for unions to present documentation to the appropriate labour board for certification. The union must demonstrate that it has obtained the minimum level of membership support required by the labour relations board.

Voluntary Recognition All employers, except those in Quebec, may voluntarily recognize and accept a union.

Contract Negotiation Following certification, the employer and union are legally required to bargain in good faith consistent with the terms set forth in the collection agreement. The term of an agreement is usually between one to three years and requires notification of intent to bargain for renewal prior to expiry of the current contract.

Decertification If a majority of employees indicate that they wish to be represented by another union or to no longer be represented by the current union, an application for decertification may be made to the labour relations board.

Impact of Unionization on Managers Challenges to Management Decisions  Call-Out Question: Ask students to identify ways the new union will affect the organization, specifically managers and supervisors. List these reasons on the board for discussion purposes. Ensure that responses include (a) challenges to management decisions, and (b) loss of supervisory authority.  Debate: Ask students to debate whether an organization has an ethical responsibility to come to an agreement with a union. After the debate, provide students with a copy of Ethics in HRM: Caterpillar Closes Electro-Motive Plant to further contextualize this issue.

Refer also to Highlights in HRM 14.3 Unfair Labour Practices, which outlines a number of practices that employers and unions may not engage in.

Structures, Functions, and Leadership of Labour Unions Explain that labour unions are classified basically into three groups: 1. Craft unions represent skilled craft workers. clxxxvi Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

2. Industrial unions represent all workers—skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled—employed along industry lines.

3. Employee associations are labour organizations that represent various groups of professional and white-collar employees in labour–management relations.  Case Study: Use Healey and colleagues (2009) Harvard Business Review case entitled ―The Knowledge Workers‘ Strike‖ to show the relevance of unions in a service economy, and to put students in the shoes of an organization whose employees are threatening to strike. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

When describing labour organizations, most researchers divide them into three levels: The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)  In 2018, the total membership of CLC was over 3.3 million Canadians, a marginal increase of about 100 000 from 2012; CLC represents the majority of all unions in Canada.

International and National Unions (often affiliates of American unions with headquarters in the United States)  Both international and national unions are made up of local unions. The objectives of these ―umbrella‖ unions are to help organize local unions, to provide strike support, and to assist local unions with, among other things, negotiations and grievance procedures.

Local Unions  Employees of any organization can form their own union, with no affiliation to a national or international union. In situations such as this, the local is the union. There are more than 250 independent local unions in Canada.  Role of the Union (Shop) Steward Call-Out Question—Ask if any students in the class have ever been a union steward or been closely associated with a steward. Ask them to explain their duties as a steward. Answers should include that the steward works closely with supervisors to resolve formal employee grievances of daily concerns regarding the labour agreement. 

Role of the Business Agent—The business agent is normally a paid labour official responsible for negotiating and administering the collective agreement and working to resolve union members‘ problems

Labour Relations in the Public Sector 

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 7 to summarize or check learning on this section of the textbook: What are the main differences between labour relations in the private versus the public sector? How are disputes involving essential service workers in the public sector usually resolved? See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-ofChapter Discussion Questions.

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

The three largest unions in Canada represent public-sector employees, and 70 percent are now unionized. While public-sector labour relations has some characteristics similar to private-sector collective bargaining, it also has distinct differences, including the following:

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Political Nature of the Labour–Management Relationship Strikes in the Public Sector  Various procedures may be used to avoid strike action or to quickly resolve critical situations. Two of the more common are:  Compulsory binding arbitration  Final-offer arbitration

The Bargaining Process  

Emphasize to students that the techniques of negotiating discussed in this chapter are appropriate in a wide variety of situations.

Use Figure 14.3: The Collective Bargaining Process to illustrate that the bargaining process consists of four separate, but interrelated, processes:

Preparing for Negotiations Gathering Bargaining Data Bargaining Teams  Call-Out Question: Ask students what sources they would consult or what data they would like to have if they were negotiators in a labour–management dispute.  Connectivity Exercise: Divide the class into labour and management five- or sixperson teams. Have each team develop a list of items they would like to bargain over.

Ask students where they would obtain data to support their demands. Have the teams write their demands on a flip chart and report their findings to the class.

Developing Bargaining Strategies and Tactics Negotiating the Collective Agreement  Review the bargaining zone model of Stagner and Rosen found in Figure 14.4: The Bargaining Zone and Negotiation Influences. This figure also points out the various influences affecting bargaining outcomes. 

Describe what it means to ―bargain in good-faith‖: meet at reasonable times and places; submit realistic proposals; offer reasonable counterproposals; both parties must sign the written document.



Role-Play: Ask students to take on the role of either buyer or seller for a used car. The car is priced in a newspaper advertisement for $1000. Provide ―secret‖ information to the buyer that he or she would like to purchase the car for $900 or less, but is willing to pay up to $1100. Provide ―secret‖ information to the seller that they would like to get $1000 for the car, and should try to attain this amount or more, but they would be willing to take $850 for it. Ask students to try to get the best deal they can in 5 minutes.

Stress to students that when bargaining, they need to provide room for concession making. Then, ask students what other strategies they used to get the price up or down.

Define a bargaining zone as the area within which the union and the employer are willing to concede when bargaining. In the case of this role-play, the bargaining zone is from $850 to $1100—both parties would be satisfied if the agreed amount is between clxxxix Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

these amounts. Ask students if each party is bargaining in good faith, using the characteristics of ―good faith‖ bargaining above. 

Role-Play: Use Discussion Question 5: A group of students wants a Burger King fastfood franchise on their university campus. University administrators want a healthfood restaurant. Resources allow for only one food outlet. Divide the class into bargaining teams, with one team representing the students and the other team representing the university administrators. (If there is another issue on your campus, use the real and current issue instead.) After the groups have started bargaining, consult the Career Counsel website to assess the negotiating styles employed by each team. See the recommended solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Interest-Based Bargaining Interest-based bargaining (IBB) is problem-solving bargaining based on a win-win philosophy and the development of a positive long-term relationship. 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Use The Business Case: Building Trust and Saving Money at the Same Time: Canada Safeway and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1518.

Management and Union Power in Collective Bargaining  Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 6: The union representing garbage collectors and other outside workers and the municipality are in the middle of tense negotiations. The collective bargaining agreement has expired. What form of bargaining power does each side possess to enhance its bargaining demands? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each form of bargaining power for both the employer and the union? See the sample solutions in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Union Bargaining Power: The bargaining power of the union may be exercised by striking, picketing, or boycotting the employer‘s products and services. The ultimate weapon for the union is its power to strike the employer. Canada has the second highest rates of days lost to strikes in the world. 



Debate: Hold a class discussion of strikes currently taking place in your local area, or use the recent 2012 NHL lockout as an example. See this site for an overview of what happened: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/sep/17/nhl-lockout-2012season-delayed, and/or this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2OO8VSbKhg. Try to identify the deadlocked issues and discuss the outcomes of these disputes.

Call-Out Question: Ask students to identify the factors they believe contribute to management‘s ability to ―take a strike.‖ Possible choices are high unemployment levels, substitution of technology for labour, ability to run the organization with managers and supervisors, available competitors of the organization‘s product or service, perishability

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of the product (e.g., oranges, lettuce), and profit level of the organization. That is, some companies are simply in a better financial position to ―take a strike.‖ Management Bargaining Power: If employees strike, their employer has the option of locking out the employees, closing the organization, hiring replacements, continuing operations with management personnel, or transferring work to another facility. When deciding whether to operate during a strike, employers must balance the costs of lost production and sales against the cost of agreeing to union demands. 



A focus on replacement workers: Of critical importance to the union is the extent, if any, to which the employer will be able to continue operating through the use of supervisory and nonstriking personnel and employees hired to replace the strikers. In some jurisdictions, employers face restrictions to their right to hire replacement workers.

In the 1990s, the use of ―scabs‖ at the Royal Oak Mines in Yellowknife so infuriated a striking miner that he blew up the mine, killing nine workers. Share with students the story in Highlights in HRM 14.4: A Tragic Labour Dispute. The violence and strife associated with the use of replacement workers has caused Quebec and British Columbia to forbid their use.

Resolving Bargaining Deadlocks  Mediation—This is a voluntary activity that both parties must agree to, in which a third party is actively involved in making suggestions to, or in facilitating communication between, the parties, in order to have them reach an agreement. Mediators have no authority to force agreement and resolve any bargaining deadlocks.  Conciliation—In conciliation, the Minister of Labour will appoint the conciliator to help the parties reach an agreement. Again, the conciliator has no authority to force an agreement, but does have a responsibility to report to the Minister the results of the conciliation (success or failure). There is usually a waiting or ―cooling off‖ period after the conciliator‘s report before a strike or lockout will proceed. It is hoped that during this period, the parties will go back to the bargaining table and resolve their disagreements.  Arbitrators are used to resolve collective bargaining disputes when the parties want someone to finalize the agreement for them. That is, arbitrators have the power to determine what the settlement will be. Arbitration is not often used to settle bargaining disputes in the private sector, but may be used in the public sector, where employees are prohibited from striking.

The Collective Agreement 

Connectivity Activity: Many students have never seen a collective agreement. Collect several agreements and bring them to class. Pass them around and have a discussion on the major provisions included in each. Compare the articles in these contracts to those shown in Highlights in HRM 14.5: Items in a Collective Agreement.

The Issue of Management Rights

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

Connectivity Activity: Ask students to read the management rights clause from different contracts. Have the class determine exactly what ultimate rights management has under the agreement and what rights it must share with the union.

Union Security Agreements  Once a union is certified by a labour relations board as the bargaining representative of employees, the union must then represent everyone in the bargaining unit equally, regardless of whether those individuals join the union or not.  A union shop is an agreement that may provide that any employee who is not a union member upon employment must join the union within 30 days or be terminated.  An agency shop is an agreement that provides for voluntary membership.

Administration of the Collective Agreement Negotiated Grievance Procedures The grievance procedure typically provides for the union to represent the interests of its members (and nonmembers as well) in processing a grievance.  Connectivity Call-Out Question: How would you resolve a complaint about the behaviour of a university professor? See whether the students are aware of how to grieve at your university.  Connectivity Activity: Source a number of grievance procedures in different organizations, both unionized and nonunionized. Have students compare the grievance procedures of different contracts.  Call-Out Question: What are some of the barriers to resolving a grievance when it is filed immediately? Explain that because grievances are often the result of an oversight or a misunderstanding, they can be resolved early on. But personality conflicts, prejudices, emotionalism, stubbornness, or other factors may be barriers to a satisfactory solution at this step.

Rights Arbitration The decision to arbitrate can revolve around the following points:  Importance of the case  Costs involved  Prospects of gaining a favourable award  Political pressures to press a particular grievance to arbitration The Arbitration Process  Witnesses are sworn in, evidence is ruled on as to its admissibility, and opening and closing statements are made by both sides.  Arbitrators have wide latitude on how they conduct the hearing.  The arbitrators must see to it that both sides receive a fair hearing.  In the majority of cases, the costs of arbitration are shared.

The Arbitration Award The arbitration award normally consists of five sections: 1. the submission to arbitrate cxcii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

2.

3.

4.

5.

the facts of the case the positions of the parties the opinion of the arbitrator the decision rendered

While arbitrators have freedom to decide the case, their final decision must be based on four factors: 1. the wording of the collective agreement 2. the submission agreement as presented to the arbitrator 3. testimony and evidence offered during the hearing 4. arbitration criteria or standards against which cases are judged

Finishing Class  

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 

Finish the class with a fun negotiations role-play developed by Miesing and Pavur (2008).

See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Ask students to read this article (Do unions have a future?) in The Globe and Mail about youth getting involved in labour in Canada. Start a discussion regarding whether young people should get involved: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/robmagazine/do-unions-have-a-future/article10310754/?page=all.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class.

Ask students to read Small Business Application and discuss which elements of the lecture is relevant to small businesses, and which may be less relevant.

Ask students to watch one of the videos mentioned in the Getting Started section. Use the video as a basis for an online discussion group.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading    

Healey, J., Trumka, R.L., Freeman, R.B., & Anderson, J. (2009). The Knowledge Workers‘ Strike. Harvard Business Review, 87(7–8), 27–34.

Heery, E., Williams, S., & Abbott, B. (2012). Civil society organizations and trade unions: Cooperation, conflict, indifference. Work, Employment and Society, 26(1), 145–160.

Marion, C. (1994). Gender and union organizing. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 47(2), 227–240.

Miesing, P., & Pavur Jr., E.J. (2009). Exercise: Stakeholder Negotiations. Journal of Strategic Management Education, 4, 187–210.

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

Taylor, V., & Provitera, M. (2011). Teaching Labor Relations with Norma Rae. Journal of Management Education, 35(5), 749–766.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. Discuss the key reasons why employees form unions. Refer to examples to illustrate your answer. Employees form unions for economic needs (this is the most important), out of general dissatisfaction with managerial policies and practices, as a way to seek a voice in setting working conditions, and as a way to fulfill social and status needs.

2. Fast Food High is a film produced by CTV and inspired by the real story about how a group of teenage workers tried to organize a union at McDonald’s in Orangeville, Ontario.

Watch the film and discuss in groups the reasons that these workers want to form a union and the effectiveness of their efforts. These are good questions to get students thinking and talking.

3. Graduate students in many Canadian universities are members of unions, such as CUPE 3903. These students help conduct tutorials, grade student examinations, etc. Do you think university students have different reasons for joining unions versus, for example, workers in a manufacturing firm? Explain your answer. The typical reason why manufacturing workers want to form a union is for economic reasons, whereas this is typically not a main reason for graduate students. Students generally want to ensure that they have a voice in setting their working conditions.

4. What are unfair labour practices? What are the consequences of unfair labour practices?

Use examples to explain your answer. Unfair labour practices are specific employer and union illegal practices that deny employees their rights and benefits under federal and provincial labour law. Managers are prohibited by law from dismissing, disciplining, or threatening employees for exercising their right to form a union. Employers cannot promise better conditions, such as increased vacation days, if the employees vote against the union.

Employers must not threaten employees with loss of jobs or reduced benefits if they vote to unionize. It is also illegal for employers to promise employees higher wages or benefits if they vote no union. The acts constitute unfair labour practices, and unions can appeal to the labour relations board to have these practices censured.

5. A group of students wants a Burger King fast-food franchise on their university campus.

University administrators want a health-food restaurant. Resources allow for only one food outlet. Divide the class into bargaining teams, with one team representing the students and the other team representing the university administrators. (If there is another issue on your campus, use the real and current issue instead.) After the groups have started bargaining, consult the Career Counsel website to assess the negotiating styles employed by each team.

The website in the Career Counsel section (http://www.belcourt6e.nelson.com) will be useful for students in assessing their negotiation styles and skills.

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6. The union representing garbage collectors and other outside workers and the municipality are in the middle of tense negotiations. The collective bargaining agreement has expired.

What form of bargaining power does each side possess to enhance its bargaining demands? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each form of bargaining power for both the employer and the union? Unions have the power of striking, picketing, or boycotting products or services. The advantages include that they can hurt the organization‘s business, putting pressure on them to agree to their terms. However, it can be bad publicity for the organization, and the union cause in general. Also, if managers can replace workers with others, or through their own labour, this reduces the effectiveness of these strategies. When negotiations become deadlocked, the employer‘s bargaining power largely rests on being able to continue operations in the face of a strike or to shut down operations entirely. Employers may still be reluctant to resort to a lockout, however, because of their concern that denying work to regular employees (employees who are not members of the union who may be locked out; they may or may not be members of another union) might hurt the organization‘s image.

7. What are the main differences between labour relations in the private versus the public sector? How are disputes involving essential service workers in the public sector usually resolved? Although public sector collective bargaining is similar to bargaining in the private sector, a number of differences are worth noting, including the political nature of the labour–management relationship and public sector strikes. In the private sector, organizations have an economic foundation, whereas in government, its foundation tends to be political. Since private employers must stay in business in order to sell their goods or services, their employees are not likely to make demands that could bankrupt them. A strike in the private sector is a test of the employer‘s economic staying power, and usually the employer‘s customers have alternative sources of supply. Governments, on the other hand, must stay in business because alternative services are usually not available. Another difference relates to the source of management authority. In a private organization, authority flows downward from the board of directors and, ultimately, from the shareholders. In contrast, authority in the public sector flows upward from the public at large to their elected representatives and to the appointed or elected managers. Unlike in the private sector, strikes by government employees create a problem for lawmakers and for the general public. Because many of the services that government employees provide, such as policing and firefighting, are considered essential to the well-being of the public, public policy is opposed to strikes by these people. Various arbitration methods are used for resolving collective bargaining deadlocks in the public sector. One is compulsory binding arbitration for employees such as police officers, firefighters, and others in jobs where strikes cannot be tolerated; in this case, a neutral third party is appointed to resolve the deadlock. Another method is final offer arbitration, under which the arbitrator must select one or the other of the final offers submitted by the disputing parties. With this method, the arbitrator‘s award is more likely to go to the party whose final bargaining offer has moved the closest to a reasonable settlement. The government can also enact back-towork legislation.

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Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Unionization of Farm Workers 1. Are farm workers entitled to the same rights as other types of unionized workers? Why? Why not? No—in 1994, the Conservative government in Ontario excluded Ontario farm workers from collective bargaining rights—a farm worker can be fired for striking, and issues that arise in the workplace cannot be channelled to arbitration for ruling.

Management is only required to listen to their concerns; they do not have to react to them.

2. Are collective bargaining rights also human rights? Refer to ILO conventions and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in your response. The ILO conventions contain clauses entitled ―Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize‖ and ―Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining.‖ The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes the ―Freedom of association,‖ but there is no provision for collective bargaining.

3. Discuss the pros and cons of farm workers having the right to strike. Individuals who do not support the right for farm workers to strike may suggest that family farms cannot withstand the ill effects of strikes or other work action, and that the short planting and harvesting seasons can be easily devastated by a work stoppage. Those who are in favour of unionization argue that farm workers are disenfranchised, treated poorly by farmers, etc., and therefore need representation.

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Case Study 2: Walmart Stores in Canada 1. What were the rights of Walmart, the employer, during these two organizing drives? In Figure 14.2: Employer ―Don’ts‖ during Union Organizing Campaigns, there is information on what unions cannot do during an organizing campaign. Employers also have a right to communicate their position to employees; although employers can‘t threaten their jobs, employers can mention the disadvantages employees will incur if the union wins, including the costs of union dues. Employers also have a right to correct any misleading facts or statements made by a union. It is also within an employer‘s right to protect the operations of the organization from disruption.

2. The certification of the first Walmart was hailed by labour as a milestone event. Why? Walmart is the largest retailer in North America, and any inroads a union can make in organizing the retail sector might significantly boost unionization overall. This is one of the areas of growth that unions have targeted, but they are having a difficult time organizing retail and the service sector in general.

3. In your opinion, can Walmart remain union free indefinitely? Why or why not? This question is asking for students‘ opinions, which can open a lively debate on the future of unions.

4. Should foreign companies that operate in Canada use their resources to try to weaken Canadian labour laws or accept the legal culture of the country and comply with those laws? Students will have a variety of opinions; however, the primary reasons why employees join unions (economic needs, dissatisfaction with the employer, and social and affiliation needs) should form the rationale for their opinions.

Chapter 15: International Human Resources Management If nothing else, my students should learn that…  

Nearly every HRM function that has been reviewed in class thus far (e.g., selection, training, performance management, compensation) needs to be altered to take into account internationalization.

We are fortunate to live in a country such as Canada—this chapter reviews information about poor working conditions in other countries, the security concerns that are involved in taking a job in some overseas countries, and the prevalence in some countries of business practices that are unethical (e.g., bribery).

Learning outcomes 1. Explain the political, economic, sociocultural, and technological factors in different countries that HR managers need to consider.

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2. Identify the types of organizational forms used for competing internationally.

3. Explain how domestic and international HRM differ and discuss the recruitment, selection, training, compensation, and performance appraisal needs for different types of employees working across borders.

4. Explain how labour relations differ around the world.

Why is this chapter important?

The rapid movement toward a global economy makes this chapter vital for all students interested in management today. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the different organizational forms companies adopt (international, multinational, global, and transnational).

Next, it emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural and environmental issues in international business. The remainder of the chapter covers issues related to staffing, training, appraisal, compensation, and labour relations in an international environment.

What can I do in this class?

This section includes ideas for how to start and finish the class. It also contains information from the textbook that can be used as a basis for a lecture. Moreover, it contains numerous suggestions for student engagement. Depending on your class size, the nature of the students, and your desire for classroom participation, choose from these activities to enliven the classroom.

Getting started 

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Ask students, if they are comfortable, to get into pairs and look at the tags on the backs of their coats or shirts. Where is their clothing made? Explain to students that much of what we buy is not made in Canada. The shirts that students wear are probably made in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, or China. The brand, of course, could be American (e.g., Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, American Eagle) or Canadian (Joe Fresh, Roots), but that just means that the company is headquartered in North America. In fact, most companies today are involved in international business in one way or another. Managing HR across these international settings may help to leverage specialized skills, provide cheaper labour, or even bring new ideas into the company. However, managing HR internationally makes everything all the more complicated.

In advance of class, ask students to watch ―Black Money,‖ a documentary hosted by Lowell Bergman into the shadowy side of international business, shedding light on multinational companies that have routinely made secret payments—often referred to as ―black money‖—to win billions of dollars in business. They can watch it in six 10-minute segments for free on YouTube. Use it as a basis for class discussion to open the class.

Start this class using a Harvard Business Review case written by Groysberg and colleagues (2011). It focuses on how the discontent of an employee‘s spouse over repeating medical school affected the company‘s international mobility program. The author raises questions on the logical aspects of company expatriate policies. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

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A really fun exercise to demonstrate problems that can arise due to cross-cultural differences was published by Jameson (1993). However, there needs to be at least one facilitator for every 30 students, and requires substantial preparation. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Analyzing Your International Environment  

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PEST Analysis: Involves an analysis of the political, economic, sociocultural, and technological aspects of a company‘s environment to help it determine its strategy and HR response.

See Figure 15.1: PEST Analysis for a list of environmental factors that organizations may wish to consider and assess. o Political factors: Provide the example from the textbook: when the Ohio-based welding company Lincoln Electric started operations in Brazil, they were not able to offer their yearly bonus program based on performance because any bonuses paid for two consecutive years become a legal entitlement. o Economic factors: Provide the example of China. China‘s 1.4 billion people represent a massive, largely untapped consumer market for global companies.

Today, more cars are sold in China than in Europe, for example. o Sociocultural factors: By recognizing and accommodating different ideologies, religious beliefs, communication styles, education systems, and social structures, managers stand a better chance of understanding the culture of a host country—a country in which an international business operates. o Technological factors: Share with students the example of a textile factory in Vietnam. It is more cost effective for the factory to purchase high-tech threading equipment to spin the cotton into thread than to hire hundreds of people to thread the cotton by hand, even when the average wage for such employees is less than $100 a month.

Small Group Discussion: Ask the students to read Ethics in HRM: Bribery Abroad, and ask students how the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act may make it easier for Canadians to bribe others or take a bribe.

Debate: Inform students that IKEA has refused to open stores in Russia because of concerns about bribery and corruption. Ask students to debate the pros and cons of operating in a nation like Russia, where these concerns are warranted. After the debate, share with them Ethics in HRM: Bribery Abroad to provide more information on this topic.

Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to pair up and think of at least three benefits that a PEST analysis may bring to an HR professional: Answers may include the following: As an HR manager, PEST analyses can help you to (1) spot business or personnel opportunities, and it gives you advanced warning of threats; (2) spot trends in the business environment so you can proactively adapt to these changes; (3) avoid implementing HR practices in a particular country where they may fail; and (4) break free of old habits and assumptions about how people should be managed to help bring about innovative ideas for the entire company.

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: Instruct students to read Reality Check: Global versus Local HRM Practices. Ask students whether they would like to have Gene Lai‘s job, and what sorts of skills or competencies are necessary to be successful like Gene?

Small Group Assignment: Use Discussion Question 1: In recent years, we have observed an increase in foreign production throughout the world. What PEST factors would you consider to be most relevant to H&M’s HR managers when trying to figure out if they should open up a plant in Vietnam to make clothes? See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Analyzing Your International Operations 

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Call-Out Question: As you move through the lecture on the different types of organizational structures, ask students to think about their answer to this question, and then take it up at the end of this portion of the lecture: If you decided to open a unit of your business in another country, what organizational structure would you use to manage it?

Use Figure 15.2: Types of Organizations to show the four basic types of organizations and how they differ in the degree to which international activities are separated to respond to the local conditions and integrated to achieve global efficiencies. o An international corporation is a domestic firm that uses its existing capabilities to penetrate overseas markets. o A multidomestic corporation (MDC) is a firm with independent business units operating in multiple countries. o A global corporation is a firm that has integrated worldwide operations through a centralized home office. o A transnational corporation is a firm that attempts to balance local responsiveness and global scale via a network of specialized operating units.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Bring this section to life by asking students to generate examples of each type of corporation (international = Honda, GE, Procter & Gamble; multidomestic = Shell, Phillips; global companies = Japanese companies such as Matsushita and NEC; transnational = Ford, Unilever, Shell).

Think-Pair-Share: Use Discussion Question 2 for the basis of this think-pair-share: What major HR issues must be addressed as an organization moves from an international form to a multidomestic, global, and transnational form? See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Managing Your International Operations  

Connectivity Call-Out Question: More students than ever are interested in international careers. What are the reasons you would choose to work in another country?

Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to write a list of all the topics covered in class thus far (e.g., selection, recruitment, compensation, etc.), and ask them to generate ideas for how it

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would be different to manage each function in a domestic versus an international arena.

Ask students to present their ideas to one another.

When a company expands globally, HR managers are responsible for ensuring that operations are staffed with the right people. Three options are available: sending people from its home country, hiring natives of the host country, and hiring natives of a different country.   

Expatriates (home-country nationals) are employees from the home country who are on international assignment.

Host-country nationals are employees who are natives of the host country.

Third-country nationals are employees who are natives of a country other than the home country or the host country. 

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Think-Pair-Share: Provide students with a copy of Figure 15.3: Changes in International Staffing over Time. Ask them to generate reasons for this trend. Answers might include the following: hiring local citizens is less costly than relocating expatriates; foreign employers may be required to hire locally; most customers want to do business with companies and people they perceive to be local versus foreign. This is an excellent exercise for students as it encourages them to make sense of data.

Making Explicit Real-World Links: Share with students the examples provided in Highlights in HRM 15.1: Reference Checking to illustrate that this selection practice differs in different national contexts.

Call-Out Question: Ask students if they have ever been an expatriate, a host-country national working for a multinational organization, or a third-country national (or a child or spouse of one). Ask students to share their experiences with others.

Call-Out Question: First share with students that nearly 70 000 Canadians are working abroad, mainly in the United States, Europe, Asia/Pacific, and South America. Most employees now consider foreign credentials essential. Then, ask students whether they would want to be sent on a global assignment one day, and why they would like to do so.

Recruiting Internationally 

Improved telecommunications and travel have made it easier to match employers and employees worldwide. HR departments must be particularly responsive to the cultural, political, and legal environments both domestically and abroad when recruiting internationally. The regulatory environment outside the United States often differs substantially.

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A work permit or visa is a government document granting a foreign individual the right to seek employment. Companies recruiting abroad often need to advertise their firms and employment ―brand‖ to recruits who are not familiar with it.

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In less well-developed countries, referrals and radio announcements may be the best way to find workers. Others use international recruiting firms to find skilled labour

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abroad. Guest workers are foreign workers invited to perform needed labour.

Although hiring non-nationals can reduce direct labor costs, indirect costs can be substantial. 

Call-Out Question: The textbook emphasizes the importance of ethical codes of conduct as a way to attract talent. Companies such as Starbucks, Lockheed Martin, and Honeywell have made a special effort to create codes of conduct for employees throughout the world to ensure that standards of ethical and legal behaviour are known and understood. Ask students whether an ethical code of conduct would attract them to apply for a job at a particular organization.

Apprenticeships—A major source of trained labour in Europe is through apprenticeship programs (see Chapter 7) that are tied into a dual-track system of education, which streams students into vocational training early on in their education. Canada does not do very well with this type of training.

Staffing Transnational Teams—Transnational teams are composed of members of multiple nationalities working on projects that span multiple countries. These teams can perform tasks for a firm given that the firm is not yet structured to accomplish this work. Examples include cardiologists around the world, and GE and Fuji engineers. o Case Study: Use Case Study 2: Recruiting and Retaining International Employees as the basis for an in-class discussion. See sample solutions to the discussion questions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Selecting Employees Internationally Share with students that a major difference in selection is that, in Canada, employers focus their hiring on the basis of talent and merit, whereas in many countries, firms hire on the basis of family ties, social status, language, and common origin. However, much of this is changing since there is greater attention to hiring those most qualified. o Call-Out Question: Ask students to imagine that they owned their own business, and they needed to hire someone from Canada to open a new product line in Mexico. What would they be looking for in a good applicant? Ensure that students generate all of the criteria shown in Figure 15.4: Expatriate Selection Criteria.

Selecting Global Managers A global manager is a manager equipped to run an international business. Six skill categories can be identified:     

the ability to seize strategic opportunities the ability to manage highly decentralized organizations an awareness of global issues sensitivity to diversity issues competence in interpersonal relations ccii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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community-building skills

The cultural environment is the communications, religion, values and ideologies, education, and social structure of a country. Core skills are skills considered critical to an employee‘s success abroad. Augmented skills are skills helpful in facilitating the efforts of expatriate managers. See Highlights in HRM 15.2: Skills of Expatriate Managers to compare core skills with augmented skills. o Think-Pair-Share: Share with students that even when companies have selected the best candidates, they will experience high expatriate failure rates. Define a failure rate as the percentage of expatriates who do not perform satisfactorily. Ask students to pair up to generate reasons for failure. Then show them Figure 15.5: Causes of Expatriate Assignment Failure to discuss the most prevalent reasons for failure among expatriates, and Figure 15.6: Expatriate Adjustment Factors to examine how three factors—family adjustment, country alignment, and company alignment—need to be present to ensure expatriate adjustment. o Small Group Discussion: Use Discussion Question 3 as the basis of this small group discussion: Starbucks is opening new stores abroad every day, it seems. If you were in charge, would you use expatriate managers or host-country nationals to staff the new facilities? Explain your thinking. See a sample solution in Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions.

Training and Development Content of Training Programs Lack of training is one of the principal causes of failure among employees working internationally. They need to know about (1) the country where they are going, (2) that country‘s culture, and (3) the history, values, and dynamics of their own organization.

Use Figure 15.7: Preparing for an International Assignment to read how individuals can be more prepared for their international assignments.

Language Training Emphasize to students who plan careers in international business that they should learn one or more foreign languages.

Cultural Training Use Figure 15.8: A Synthesis of Country Clusters to show the results of Ronen and Shenkar‘s research that groups together countries with similar cultures. Ronen and Shenkar point out that whereas evidence for the grouping of countries into Anglo, Germanic, Nordic, Latin European, and Latin American clusters appears to be quite strong, clusters encompassing the Far Eastern and Arab countries are ill-defined and require further research, as do clusters of countries classified as independent. Many areas, such as Africa, have not been studied much at all. It should also be noted that the clusters presented in Figure 15.8 do not include Russia and the former satellites of the Soviet Union. Those countries, if added to the figure, would likely fall between the Near Eastern and Nordic categories.

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Simulation: Use Oddou‘s (2005) simulation to meet two objectives. First, it provides a platform to discuss cultural differences. Second, it can be used as an illustration of how simulations are used by companies to train managers in cross-cultural communication.

Refer to the classes on Training and Development and remind students about how simulations are effective in teaching ―soft‖ skills. See the full citation for the Oddou article in Recommended Reading.  Take-Home Assignment: Ask students to respond to the following question: If you were going to send a new manager to Beijing, what specific types of training would you provide to her before she left? Find information on the Internet on Chinese etiquette and business practices to inform your answer. Language and cultural training would be necessary. Training may also be necessary for family members of the expatriate, and it would be important to keep their career development on track. When the manager returns home to Canada, repatriation programs, along with training, are necessary, too.

Other cultural nuances may be brought up, such as the importance of ―face,‖ which roughly translates as ―honour‖ or ―respect,‖ as well as Confucianism, which is a system of behaviours and ethics that stress the obligations of people toward one another based on their relationship. It stresses duty, sincerity, loyalty, respect for age, and seniority.

More information on topics such as Chinese etiquette and customs can be found at kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/china-country-profile.html. 

Assessing and Tracking Career Development  Call-Out Question: Ask students: Are corporate career development activities less available to female than to male expatriates? Then, share with them the results of a study

by Selmer and Leung (2003). In short, they found that women expatriates had less access to fast-track programs, individual career counselling, and career planning workshops. See the full citation in Recommended Reading.

Managing Personal and Family Life Culture shock is the perpetual stress experienced by people who settle overseas. 

Case Study: Use Case Study 1: Cultural Conundrum as an in-class exercise. See the sample solutions in Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies.

Repatriation Repatriation is the process of helping an employee transition back home from an international assignment. 

Think-Pair-Share: Inform students that about 50 percent of expatriates will leave their company within one to two years of returning home. Ask students to think about why this is so. Then, show students Highlights in HRM 15.3: Repatriation Checklist.

Compensation 

When designing pay systems, a guiding philosophy is often ―think globally and act locally.‖ cciv Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Create a pay plan that supports the overall strategic intent of the organization but provides enough flexibility to customize particular policies and programs to meet the needs of employees in specific locations.

Compensation of Host-Country Employees  Use Figure 15.9: Real Annual Wages for Minimum Wage Earners in Different Countries to discuss how minimum wages vary dramatically from country to country.  Connectivity Example: Show students this funny website—or copy the pictures from it onto your slide deck. It shows how many hours of minimum wage work a person must work in order to purchase a pint of beer: http://qz.com/174700/how-many-hours-ofminimum-wage-work-it-takes-to-earn-a-beer/.  Employee benefits can vary dramatically from country to country, from 70 percent in France to 30 percent in Canada (for full-time rather than contingent employees).  Global compensation system: A centralized pay system whereby host-country employees are offered a full range of training programs, benefits, and pay comparable with a firm‘s domestic employees but adjusted for local differences.

Compensation of Host-Country Managers  In the past, remuneration of host-country managers has been ruled by local salary levels.

Now, international firms are moving toward a narrowing of the salary gap between the host-country manager and the expatriate.

Compensation of Expatriate Managers  To be effective, an international compensation program must be a written document that has several characteristics, including provisions for good healthcare and provisions for the education of the employee‘s children abroad.  Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to get into pairs and discuss the compensation incentives that they would need to become an expatriate. Take it up and include the following points: (1) provide an incentive to leave Canada; (2) allow for maintaining a North American standard of living; (3) provide for security in countries that are politically unstable or present personal dangers; (4) include provisions for good health care; (5) take into account the foreign taxes the employee is likely to have to pay (in addition to domestic taxes), and help him or her with tax forms and filing; (6) provide for the education of the employee‘s children abroad, if necessary; (7) allow for maintaining relationships with family, friends, and business associates via trips home and other communication technologies; (8) facilitate re-entry home; (9) be in writing.  Expatriate compensation plans used by North American companies are composed of four elements that constitute the balance-sheet approach: (1) base pay, (2) differentials, (3) incentives, and (4) assistance programs.  

Home-based pay is pay based on an expatriate‘s home country‘s compensation practices.

The balance-sheet approach is a compensation system designed to match the purchasing power in a person‘s home country.

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Split pay—Expatriates are given a portion of their pay in the local currency to cover their day-to-day expenses, and a portion of their pay in their home currency to safeguard their home currency from changes in inflation or foreign exchange rates.  Host-based pay is expatriate pay comparable to that earned by employees in a host country.  Localization is adapting pay and other compensation benefits to match that of a particular country. 

Debate: Ask students: Should compensation packages be equal across the world or should they be adapted to the local cultures and economies? In pairs, debate each position. If the cost of living is lower in a foreign assignment, organizations must make accommodations for these differences. It could potentially be damaging if expatriates went on an international assignment and ―lived like kings.‖ In many cases, organizations equalize an expatriate‘s pay to make the purchasing power roughly equal to local managers of the same standing. The surplus amounts of pay (as well as contributions to pensions, and so on) are often put in an account until the expatriate returns home.  Team Take-Home Assignment: Use HRM Experience: A Canadian (Expatriate) in Paris as an out-of-class team assignment.

Performance Appraisal One of the biggest problems with managing employees abroad is that it is difficult to evaluate their performance. Problems in this area can lead to higher failure rates and even derail a person‘s career rather than enhance it. The following are key issues that must be addressed: Who Should Appraise Performance?

People working abroad have at least two allegiances: to the home country, and to the host country. Superiors in each location may have very different views and expectations for performance.

Home- versus Host-Country Evaluations Domestic managers may be unable to understand the expatriate‘s experiences, and geographic distance poses communication problems, although email, instant messaging, and HR information systems have helped close the gap. Local managers are likely to be in the best position to observe performance. However, cultural biases may affect their performance evaluations, and they may not have a broad perspective of how the individual is contributing to the organization as a whole. As discussed in Chapter 8, multiple sources of appraisal information can be extremely valuable.

Performance Criteria Because expatriate assignments are extremely costly, many HR managers are increasingly under pressure to calculate the return-on-investment (ROI) of these assignments. What did the firm get for the millions of dollars it spent to send an expatriate abroad? 

Making Explicit Real-World Links: See The Business Case: The Costs of Employing Expatriates.

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Call-Out Question: Assume that you are working for GE in Afghanistan. The power often goes out in your building, business deals take longer than in Canada, and you experience a great deal of stress due to the unstable political environment. Would you want your performance to be assessed in relation to the difficulty of doing business in Afghanistan? Most students will respond—of course yes! Relate this back to your lecture on performance management and the concept called ―criterion contamination.‖

Providing Feedback  In addition to receiving feedback from home-country and host-country managers, the expatriate should also provide feedback about the support she or he is receiving.  The expatriate should receive immediate debriefing upon her or his return home.

Repatriation interviews serve many goals, from establishing old ties, to addressing technical issues about the job, to providing documentation and insights from the expatriate.

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Analyzing the International Labour Environment  

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Making Explicit Real-World Links: Share with students Highlights in HRM 15.4: Dirty List to provide examples of how in some countries, working conditions resemble slave labour camps.

Collective Bargaining in Other Countries: In Chapter 14, collective bargaining was noted as a process that can vary widely in many countries. In some countries, the government plays a major role in collective bargaining. In Australia and New Zealand, for example, for most of the twentieth century, labour courts had the authority to impose wages and other employment conditions on a broad range of firms. By contrast, in developing countries, labour unions may do little more than attempt to increase wages, and there is very little government involvement with regard to wages, or to working conditions. In more developed countries, goals related to other aspects of the employment relationship, like the length of workweek, safety, and grievances, are pursued.

International Labour Organizations: The most active international union has been the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which represents 175 million trade unionists in 155 countries and territories. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) represents trade workers in 83 trade unions in 36 western, central, and eastern European countries. The International Labour Organization (ILO) of the United Nations is also active and influential. The ILO involves employers, employees, and nation-states in the labour process. In recent years, the ILO has redefined its mission based on the ―Decent Work Agenda,‖ which promotes the idea that there is an ethical dimension of work. This notion means that all people, including sole-proprietors such as farmers, deserve decent homes, food, education, and social programs to protect people when they are elderly, disabled, or unemployed.

Labour Participation in Management: In many European countries, provisions for employee representation are established by law. Employee representation is present in worker councils, safety and hygiene committees, and boards of directors. Worker councils basically provide a communication channel between employers and workers.

Codetermination is the representation of labour on the board of directors of a company.

This means that company shareholders and employees are required to be represented in equal numbers on the supervisory boards of large corporations.

Finishing Class 

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Use Discussion Question 7 as the basis for a class discussion: Do you believe that codetermination will ever become popular in Canada? Explain your position. There are no ―right‖ or ―wrong‖ answers, opening up the possibility for students to learn from one another, and to be empathetic toward different viewpoints.

Review the learning objectives.

Create a multiple-choice style quiz based on the lecture material to check learning. Use clickers if they are available.

Provide students with a ―one-minute‖ paper and ask them to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the most important thing I learned today? (2) What question do I have that is left unanswered? Collect the one-minute papers and take up any unresolved issues in the following class. ccviii Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd.

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Ask students a provocative question, such as: Do you think there should be some international standard for labour rights? If so, what should that standard be, and how should it be enforced? Use this as a basis for discussion on the online discussion board for your class.

Thank students for volunteering their ideas and experiences. Reinforce that class discussions advance their thinking about all topics. Remind students that they will not be able to work without making contributions to discussions.

Additional Teaching Resources Recommended Reading      

Groysberg, B., Nohria, N., & Herman, K. (2011). The Expat Dilemma. Harvard Business Review, 89(11), 150–153.

Hinds, P., Liu, L., & Lyon, J. (2011). Putting the global in global work: An intercultural lens on the practice of cross-national collaboration. The Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 135–188.

Jameson, D.A. (1993). Using a simulation to teach intercultural communication to business communication courses. The Bulletin, March 3–11.

Nohria, N., & Ghoshal, S. (1994). Differentiated fit and shared values: Alternatives for managing headquarters–subsidiary relations. Strategic Management Journal, 15, 491–502.

Oddou, G. (2005). A cross-cultural exercise: Expat in the marketplace. Journal of Management Education, 29(5), 758–768.

Selmer, J., & Leung, A.S.M. (2003). Are corporate career development activities less available to female than to male expatriates? Journal of Business Ethics, 43(1–2), 125–136.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions 1. In recent years, we have observed an increase in foreign production throughout the world. What PEST factors would you consider to be most relevant to H&M’s HR managers when trying to figure out if they should open up a plant in Vietnam to make clothes? A full analysis of Vietnam using PEST is beyond the scope of this chapter.

However, students should consider that political factors should be taken into account, including the labour laws regarding working hours and working conditions. They should also consider the extent of political unrest, as companies like H&M may wish not to locate factories in countries experiencing strife. Economic factors may be less of a concern, given that HRM wants to open a plant in Vietnam, and not necessarily include Vietnamese people as customers. They will want to take into consideration sociocultural factors (communications, religion, values and ideologies, education, and social structure) because they have important implications for managing people in Vietnam, whether to hire host country nationals or expatriates, and the types of training and development needs that might arise. Finally, H&M may wish to consider the technological constraints it may face in opening a factory in Vietnam, as the infrastructure in the country is not commensurate with other nations, such as Canada.

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2. What major HR issues must be addressed as an organization moves from an international form to a multidomestic, global, and transnational form? An international form, or a domestic firm that uses its existing capabilities to move into overseas markets, should conduct a PEST analysis in the countries in which it would like to penetrate further. For instance, an MDC is more complex than an international firm because it usually has autonomous units in multiple countries. Therefore, it must ensure that training and development needs are met, along with a clear form of performance appraisal and compensation system. A global firm needs to have a strong culture, as it views the world as its marketplace. Hence, culture-enhancing HRM practices may be particularly important (e.g., induction, communication strategies). A transnational firm needs to have the same strong corporate culture as a global firm, but there needs to be an emphasis on cross-cultural training, as there is more integration among the different locations. This may also alter performance appraisals, as managers may be appraised by people located in different parts of the world.

3. Starbucks is opening new stores abroad every day, it seems. If you were in charge, would you use expatriate managers or host-country nationals to staff the new facilities?

Explain your thinking. Expatriates have the advantage of knowing the products, technical systems, organizational policies, company culture, and the likes of Starbucks.

Host-country nationals, on the other hand, are more likely to understand their customers‘ specific needs and wants. They may also be more familiar with legal issues in their country, but they certainly have a better understanding of the national culture and norms. In all likelihood, Starbucks would want to blend a team of locals and expatriates to get the company going, but would eventually turn things over to the hostcountry managers after they received the necessary technical training and experience.

4. This chapter places considerable emphasis on the role spouses play in terms of the success of an overseas manager. What other steps should companies take to increase the likelihood of a successful experience for all parties involved? First, selection and training should be put in place so that an expatriate manager has the necessary skills and competencies (see Highlights in HRM 15.2: Skills of Expatriate Managers). The expatriate must find a way to adjust to the demands of their company, the country environment, and their family needs. Employees who share a common vision with the company are willing to undergo difficulties for the organization. Employees who take time to understand the culture and market in which they are operating will be better able to cope with unexpected changes and demands. Finally, employees who have family members that are supportive and interested in an overseas assignment are much more successful in their international assignments. As a result, expatriates stand a greater chance of being able to successfully adjust to their international positions. See Figure 15.6: Expatriate Adjustment Factors to examine how these three factors must be aligned to ensure expatriate adjustment. In addition, training and development for both expatriates and their spouses can have a big impact.

5. Talk with a foreign student on your campus; ask about his or her experience with culture shock on first arriving in Canada. What did you learn from your discussion?

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Information obtained from student interviews with foreign students or foreign-born co-workers would make an interesting class discussion.

6. What are the major differences between labor–management relations in Europe and those in Canada? Union strength depends on many factors, such as the level of employee participation, per capita labour income, mobility between management and labour, homogeneity of labour (racial, religious, social class), and unemployment levels. So the labour relations landscape differs across countries within Europe. For example, nearly all of Sweden‘s workers are organized, giving the unions in this country considerable strength and autonomy, and the environment is relatively peaceful. In comparison, most French workers are also unionized; however, in France, labour–management relations are oftentimes considered quite hostile given the high strike rate. Unlike in Canada, unions in many European countries (such as Sweden) have a great deal of political power and are often allied with a particular political party.

When employers in these countries deal with unions, they are, in effect, dealing indirectly with governments. Another difference is that in the United Kingdom and France, the government intervenes in all aspects of collective bargaining, whereas in Canada, this happens only in the public sector. Another important difference between Canada and Europe is that in the latter, there are provisions for employee representation established by EU law.

7. Do you believe that codetermination will ever become popular in Canada? Explain your position. Codetermination, or the representation on the board of directors of a company, is common practice in some countries such as Germany. Whether this will become popular in Canada is up for debate.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies Case Study 1: Cultural Conundrum 1. Exactly what preparation should Anna’s company have given her before she started her assignment? Detailed information and training on the new culture is needed to make Anna‘s assignment successful. The company must tell her that she must follow the host culture in making decisions. Additionally, Figure 15.7: Preparing for an International Assignment shows what organizations should do to prepare someone for an international assignment.

2. In general, what should a candidate for an international assignment do to prepare for a job, in the absence of company orientation and training? In the absence of training, the employee and his or her family can obtain a great deal of general information about the host country, including its culture, geography, social and political history, climate, food, and so on, via the Internet, books, lectures, and DVDs. The knowledge gained will at least help the participants have a better understanding of their assignments. The candidate should also try to speak to other expatriates—connect to an online community to

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understand what it‘s like to live and work there. The candidate should also ensure that he or she has a thorough understanding of the job requirements.

3. Many believe that women on international assignments prove to be very effective because they are both task oriented (a North American cultural imperative) and relationship oriented (an important attribute in Asian and other cultures). Why did these two sets of skills not help Anna? There is no right or wrong answer here. Perhaps students will suggest that Anna used the North American management guideline and acted in a ―masculine‖ manner. We reward managers who act forcefully, and even though women are good at relationship-oriented managing, Anna may not have practised it here because she felt that it was not valued.

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Case Study 2: Recruiting and Retaining International Employees 1. Describe the advantages and limitations of Cambior’s staffing policies. How would you compare these to the advantages and limitations of employing host-country nationals?

Advantages: short-term assignments; home-based assignments where employees will spend a period of time at work and then return home for rest and recuperation; long-term assignments move their families close to the work site and compensation. Limitations: education of the children and working spouses when they are relocated; health issues are more complex (e.g., malaria); receiving rapid medical treatment; violence in developing countries.

2. What kinds of hardships would Cambior employees face? What would be appropriate compensation for these conditions? Hardships would include education for employees‘ children and spouses, and health and safety issues. Students should discuss in class what appropriate compensation would include for these conditions.

3. What benefits required by law in Canada would be unlikely to be provided in developing countries? Healthcare, vacation, holidays, employment insurance. Refer to the government website on benefits required by law in Canada.

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