Strategic Employee Selection, Employee Motivation, and Productive Work

Environments

Strategic Human Capital Leadership

Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D.Visiting Fulbright Scholar

Belarusian State University School of Business and Management of Technology MBA Program

Assistant Professor of Management, Woodbury School of Business

Email: jon.westover@gmail.com; jonathan.westover@uvu.eduAbout Me: about.me/jonathan.h.westover

Introduction

This session will address the following 3 topics:• Proven best practices and principles of effective employee

selection with a focus on effective interviewing and an application of the “Moneyball” approach to strategically meeting your organization’s staffing needs.

• Proven best practices and principles of employee motivation with a focus on how to leverage employee capacity to optimize workplace potential and overall firm success.

• Proven best practices and principles of productive work environments with a focus on creating a high performance work culture.

What we will Cover

We will:1. Identify the elements of the selection process and define ways to measure the

success of the selection method.2. Describe the "Moneyball" Strategy for HR and Hiring Managers3. Discuss how to conduct effective interviews.4. Explain the importance of human capital maximization.5. Identify approaches to designing a job to make it more motivating.6. Explain how dissatisfaction affects employee behavior and firm performance.7. Describe how organizations contribute to employees’ job satisfaction and

retaining key employees.8. Define high-performance work systems, conditions to create such a system, and

summarize the outcomes of a high-performance work system.9. Explain how human resource management can contribute to high performance

and the purposes of performance management systems.10. Explain how to provide performance feedback effectively and summarize ways to

produce improvement in unsatisfactory performance.

What we will Cover—Cont.

1. We consistently attract the best available talent to fill our human capital needs.

2. We know who our most talented performers are and that we hire “like talent.”

3. We have a handle on future needs for leadership and an outstanding strategy for filling these needs.

4. All of our employee’s job assignments “fit” their unique talents and skill sets.

5. Employee turn-over is low, particularly with our best people.6. Morale is high and that our people are happy in their jobs.

Self-Assessment: How Are We Doing? –We are confident that:

7. We know the dreams and aspirations of our people and have developed career planning tools to match these desires with opportunities for development.

8. We have put in place strategies whereby we will lose fewer of our talented people this year than we did last year.

9. We know where strategic improvements are needed and we ARE making them.

10.We have a performance appraisal system that is both accurate and fair.

11.When our best employees choose to leave, our exit evaluation process identifies with great clarity why we suffered this loss.

12.Our middle management supervisors possess the skills required to develop the people entrusted to them and have earned the trust of those they serve.

Self-Assessment: How Are We Doing? –We are confident that:

• How can I get the right people into the right job?

• How can I reduce employee turnover?

• How can I improve my performance management process?

• How can I create a high-engagement work culture?

• How can I best tap the full potential of my employees?

The Challenge of Utilizing Human Capital

Maximizing Your Human Capital Potential

• Personnel Selection: the process through which organizations make decisions about who will or will not be allowed to join the organization.

• Selection begins with the candidates identified through recruitment.• It attempts to reduce their number to the individuals best qualified to

perform available jobs.• It ends with the selected individuals placed in jobs with the organization.

Personnel Selection

Criteria for Measuring the Effectiveness of Selection Tools and Methods

“Moneyball”—Asking all the Wrong Questions

“Moneyball”—A New Way of Thinking

What they did:• Billy Beane also used statistics to identify the

talents that really made the difference in winning.

• He selected players based on hidden talents and their talent "fit" within the ballplayer's roster.

"Moneyball" Implications for Managers

What you need to do:• Managers who seek to fill their bench with talent need to first understand

the talents of their current staff. • Next, they need to evaluate what talent they need to do the job and

accomplish the goals. • Then, they should look at the difference between the talent and skills they

have and the talent they need.• They can also assess what talents, skills, and other characteristics helped

employees work effectively in the roles in the past. Then, they need to find the players who fill their gaps.

• This is the secret to hiring a superior workforce. It is not always the individual player who must shine on your staff. The individual player must bring your organization the skills and characteristics that are keeping you from hitting your home run.

• What is your key element that your not looking at that could predict a successful hire?

"Moneyball" Implications for Managers

The Legacy of “Moneyball”

• Global giants like IBM, Amazon and Google have already begun importing predictive performance analytics to manage their human capital portfolios.

• Judgment and personal experience will matter less. Statistical context will matter more.

• Smarter and savvier employers are going to look for ways to get more useful and useable value from the data their employees are generating anyway.

• Harvard Business Review: “How Companies Will Googlefy Your Career”

The Legacy of “Moneyball”

• How does the “Moneyball” approach apply to your organization?

• Which concepts do you think are most helpful and what are the first steps to implementing them?

• What can you do immediately to start making a difference?

"Moneyball" Implications for Managers—What will you do?

1. Be prepared and take good notes2. Assign responsibilities3. Start with a warm-up phase; Put the

applicant at ease4. Ask about past behaviors (use probing

questions and behavioral questions appropriately)

5. Be a good listener6. Figure out what your employees do,

and ask questions that look for similar behaviors

7. At the end of the interview, make sure the candidate knows what to expect next

Interviewing Effectively

CredentialsExperience

Skills & Knowledge

Self Image

Traits

Motives & Values

• Problem Solving: Defines Problems and causes; Applies Problem Solving Techniques• Tenacity: Ability to persevere over an extended period of time, overcoming significant

obstacles to achieve an objective. • Interpersonal Sensitivity: Accurately interprets others feelings and attitudes; Effective

listener• Efficiency Orientation: Concern for getting things done with a minimal use of time,

money, and resources; Awareness of cost v. benefits, and able to find ways to do things more quickly and easily at a lower cost.

• Analytical Thinking: Analytical Thinking; Ability to break down complex problems, identify causes and develop recommendations.

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to analyze an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and competitive position in the marketplace and to develop strategies based on a long term future perspective.

• Flexibility: Adapts to situations or assignments; ability to alter plans• Influence: Ability to develop and use effective strategies to gain others’ support and

commitment. • Customer Oriented: Takes the perspective of the customers in planning and decision

making. Seeks the suggestions and feedback of customers; Anticipates and is assertively responsive to their needs.

• Initiative/Results Orientation: Originates action; Finds ways to get things done.

Competency Examples

• Self Control: Shows grace under pressure; the ability to keep ones emotions under control in difficult circumstances

• Detail Orientation: The ability to keep track of significant amounts of information and logistics; Does the little things well; Does error-free work.

• Judgment: Maturity in decision-making; a sense for the appropriate in work situations; professionalism

• Self Confidence: Belief in one’s own ability to accomplish a task and select an effective approach to a task or problem; Willingness to trust one’s independent judgment.

• Directing Others: Ability to use one’s position in an effective way to enforce rules, confront performance issues, set boundaries for behavior or tell others what they must do.

• Calculated Risk Taking: Able to weigh the costs, possible benefits, and likelihood of success of a course of action and to commit oneself to that course of action.

• Motivating Others: The ability to motivate people individually or in groups by actions such encouraging people, giving recognition, creating symbols of group identity and using group meetings to inspire and instill pride in the work unit.

• Teamwork: Effective at Working in team situations. • Customer Responsiveness: Responds well to internal/external customer needs. • Global Thinking: Makes the effort to learn about and modifies behavior in other

cultures; Is able to conduct business effectively in other cultures.

Competency Examples

1. Tell me about a time in your work when you needed to show leadership (initiative, strategic thinking, influence skills etc...)

2. Tell me about a time when you were asked questions to which you did not have answers.

3. Has there ever been a time when you challenged a policy or procedure?

4. Tell me about a time when you had difficulty with a team member. Why do you think that was?

5. Give me a specific example of a time when an employee objected to an assignment you asked her to do. How did you handle the situation?

6. Describe your responsibilities when it comes to…

7. Describe the most challenging aspects of your responsibilities in …

8. Tell me some things you did to…

9. Tell me about your role in implementing…

10. Describe how you …

11. You said ‘we.’ What did you do specifically?

Competency Questions

• How do these principles of effective interviewing apply to your organization?

• Which concepts do you think are most helpful and what are the first steps to implementing them?

• What can you do immediately to start making a difference?

Effective Interviewing—What will you do?

Approaches to Job Design

1. Skill variety – the extent to which a job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks involved.

2. Task identity – the degree to which a job requires completing a “whole” piece of work from beginning to end.

3. Task significance – the extent to which the job has an important impact on the lives of other people.

4. Autonomy – the degree to which the job allows an individual to make decisions about the way work will be carried out.

5. Feedback - the extent to which a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself.

Designing Jobs That Motivate: The Job Characteristics Model

Characteristics of a Motivating Job

The Truth about Motivation

The Truth about Motivation

MasteryAutonomy

Job Withdrawal and Dissatisfaction

Job withdrawal – a set of behaviors with which employees try to avoid the work situation physically, mentally, or emotionally.

Job satisfaction – a pleasant feeling resulting from the perception that one’s job fulfills or allows for the fulfillment of one’s important job values. The three important components are: (1) Values, (2) Perceptions, and (3) Ideas of what is important

Job Satisfaction

• Employee Empowerment – Giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service.

• Employee Engagement – Full involvement in one’s work and commitment to one’s job and company. This is associated with higher productivity, better customer service, lower employee turnover

Employee Empowerment

Pike’s Place Fish Market

Pike’s Place Fish Market

1. Play 2. Make Their Day 3. Be There 4. Choose Your Attitude

• How do these principles of designing jobs that are both motivating and empowering apply to your organization?

• Which concepts do you think are most helpful and what are the first steps to implementing them?

• What can you do immediately to start making a difference?

Designing Motivating and Empowering Jobs—What will you do?

The Importance of EffectivePerformance Management

• Performance management: the process through which managers ensure that employees’ activities and outputs contribute to the organization’s goals.

• This process requires:– Knowing what activities and

outputs are desired– Observing whether they occur– Providing feedback to help

employees meet expectations

Performance Management

Stages of the Performance Management Process

Performance Management

Basic Approaches to Performance Measurement

Performance Management Done Right

• Contrast errors: the rater compares an individual, not against an objective standard, but against other employees.

• Distributional errors: the rater tends to use only one part of a rating scale.– Leniency: the reviewer rates everyone near the top– Strictness: the rater favors lower rankings– Central tendency: the rater puts everyone near the middle of the scale

• Rater bias: raters often let their opinion of one quality color their opinion of others.– Halo error: when the bias is in a favorable direction. This can mistakenly tell

employees they don’t need to improve in any area.– Horns error: when the bias involves negative ratings. This can cause employees

to feel frustrated and defensive.

Types of Performance MeasurementRating Errors

Principles of Justice

Hot-Stove Rule Progressive DisciplineA formal discipline process in which the consequences become more serious if the employee repeats the offense.

Progressive Discipline

Principle of discipline that says discipline should be like a hot stove, giving clear warning and following up with consistent, objective, and immediate consequences.

Improving Performance

Outcomes of a High-PerformanceWork System

1. Continuous learning – each employee’s and each group’s ongoing efforts to gather information and apply the information to their decisions.

2. Knowledge is shared – one challenge is to shift the focus of training away from teaching skills and toward a broader focus on generating and sharing knowledge.

3. Critical, systemic thinking – is widespread and occurs when employees are encouraged to see relationships among ideas and think in new ways.

4. Learning culture – a culture in which learning is rewarded, promoted, and supported by managers and organizational objectives.

5. Employees are valued – the organization recognizes that employees are the source of its knowledge. It therefore focuses on ensuring the development and well-being of each employee.

Key Features of Learning Organizations

• How do these principles of performance management and creating a high performance work culture apply to your organization?

• Which concepts do you think are most helpful and what are the first steps to implementing them?

• What can you do immediately to start making a difference?

High Performance Work Culture—What will you do?

Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D.Visiting Fulbright Scholar

Belarusian State University School of Business and Management of Technology MBA Program

Assistant Professor of Management, Woodbury School of Business

Email: jon.westover@gmail.com; jonathan.westover@uvu.eduAbout Me: about.me/jonathan.h.westover

QUESTIONS?